Bellator 290 predictions: Is anyone picking Fedor to retire with upset of Ryan Bader?

Bellator returns this week for its first event of the year, and a pair of titles and monumental sendoff top the lineup.

Bellator 290 takes place Saturday at Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif. The main card airs on CBS following prelims on MMA Junkie.

(Click here to open a PDF of the staff picks grid in a separate window.)

In the main event, heavyweight champion Ryan Bader (30-7 MMA, 8-2 BMMA) takes on legendary Russian challenger Fedor Emelianenko (40-6 MMA, 4-2 BMMA), who has announced this will be his final fight. It is a rematch of a 2019 tournament final and title fight that saw Bader finish Emelianenko with a 35-second TKO.

Bader is a sizable favorite at -320 at Tipico Sportsbook; the comeback on former PRIDE champ Emelianenko is +255. But none of our 11 editors, writers, radio hosts and videographers have “The Last Emperor” with a fairytale ending. Bader is a unanimous pick at 11-0.

In the co-feature, middleweight champion Johnny Eblen (12-0 MMA, 8-0 BMMA) puts his title on the line for the first time when he meets challenger Anatoly Tokov (31-3 MMA, 7-0 BMMA). Eblen is a -270 favorite at the betting window, and he has a near-unanimous rout in the picks. Just one of our staff members has Tokov in an upset.

And to open the main card, which is Bellator’s debut on CBS, Sabah Homasi (17-10 MMA, 6-4 BMMA) takes on Brennan Ward (16-6 MMA, 11-6 BMMA) at welterweight. Homasi is more than a 2-1 betting favorite, but our pickers are split. It’s Ward with a 6-5 lead.

In the MMA Junkie reader consensus picks, Bader (52 percent), Eblen (63 percent) and Ward (62 percent) are the choices.

Check out all the picks above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 290.