Chael Sonnen Slight Favorite Over Tito Ortiz At Bellator 170

Former UFC middleweight fighter and title contender Chael Sonnen will make his Bellator MMA debut next year as he will be fighting former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz at Bellator 160.

Ortiz crossed the bridge to Bellator in 2014 and had gone 2-1 since joining the promotion. After straight wins over Alexander Shlemenko and Stephan Bonnar, Ortiz lost his bid at the light heavyweight title against Liam McGeary.

In his last five MMA bouts, Sonnen went 3-2 and lost his last bout to Rashad Evans back at UFC 167 by first-round TKO. After a string of failed drug tests in 2014, Sonnen was banned for two years by the Nevada Athletic Commission and has not fought since then.

Early betting odds for the fight have been released and Sonnen is -150 favorite over Ortiz, who is a +126 underdog. While these are the current betting odds, they could change leading up to the fight. The two fighters have already started promoting the fight which is expected to do good ratings for Bellator and Spike as Sonnen pulled in big PPV numbers while in the UFC and Ortz is a legend in MMA. 

Bellator 170 takes place on January 21st at The Forum in Inglewood, California. The main card will air live on Spike while the prelims air on Spike.com. No other fights have been announced for this event, but Bellator is expected to add more bouts to the card shortly.