Bellator 294 predictions: Is anyone picking DeAnna Bennett over champ Liz Carmouche?

	Carmouche vs. Bennett	Johnson vs. Sowma	Blencowe vs. McMann	Breno vs. Sabatello	Chokheli vs. Lombardo
MMA Junkie readers’ consensus picks 53-38	Carmouche (82%)	Johnson (58%)	McMann (77%)	Sabatello (83%)	Lombardo (60%)
George Garcia @MMAjunkieGeorge 58-33	Carmouche	Johnson	McMann	Sabatello	Lombardo
Matt Erickson @MattE 57-34	Carmouche	Sowma	McMann	Sabatello	Chokheli
Simon Samano @SJSamano 56-35	Carmouche	Johnson	McMann	Sabatello	Lombardo
Nolan King @mma_kings 56-35	Carmouche	Johnson	McMann	Sabatello	Lombardo
Abbey Subhan @kammakaze 53-38	Carmouche	Johnson	Blencowe	Sabatello	Lombardo
Matthew Wells @MrMWells 53-38	Carmouche	Sowma	McMann	Sabatello	Lombardo
Mike Bohn @MikeBohn 52-39 2014 Champion	Carmouche	Johnson	McMann	Sabatello	Lombardo
Danny Segura @dannyseguratv 51-40	Carmouche	Sowma	McMann	Sabatello	Lombardo
Ken Hathaway @kenshathaway 51-40 2018, 2022 Champion	Carmouche	Sowma	McMann	Sabatello	Chokheli
Farah Hannoun @Farah_Hannoun 50-41	Carmouche	Johnson	Blencowe	Sabatello	Lombardo
Brian Garcia @thegoze 49-42 2017 Champion	Carmouche	Johnson	Blencowe	Sabatello	Lombardo

For the second straight year, Bellator is in Hawaii for back-to-back April shows, and a champion tops the bill of the first event.

Bellator 294 takes place Friday at Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu. The main card airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.

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

In the main event, women’s flyweight champion Liz Carmouche (18-7 MMA, 5-0 BMMA) takes on DeAnna Bennett (13-7-1 MMA, 3-1 BMMA) in a rematch.

Carmouche submitted Bennett in 2020 in her Bellator debut. Bennett missed weight in that fight by more than five pounds. The wrinkle this time is that Bennett missed weight again – so she can’t win the title. It remains on the line for Carmouche, though, so with an upset loss, she would have to vacate the belt.

Carmouche is a 3-1 favorite at the betting window, and our 11 editors, writers, radio hosts and videographers have her as one of two unanimous picks on the main card. (It should be noted all 11 picks were submitted for Carmouche prior to Bennett’s weight miss.)

In the co-feature, Tim Johnson (15-9 MMA, 3-5 BMMA) meets Said Sowma (8-4 MMA, 2-3 BMMA) at heavyweight. Johnson is a slight favorite and has a 7-4 picks lead.

Also on the main card, former women’s featherweight title challenger Arlene Blencowe (15-9 MMA, 8-5 BMMA) takes on former UFC women’s bantamweight title challenger Sara McMann (13-6 MMA, 0-0 BMMA), who is making her Bellator debut after years in the UFC. McMann is a -250 favorite and has an 8-3 picks advantage.

Our second unanimous pick is Danny Sabatello (13-2 MMA, 3-1 BMMA), who is coming off his first Bellator loss in the semifinals of the bantamweight grand prix, which also was for the interim title. Sabatello is the card’s biggest betting favorite at 8-1 and not surprisingly has an 11-0 picks shutout against Marcos Breno (15-2 MMA, 1-0 BMMA).

And to open the main card, Levan Chokheli (11-2 MMA, 2-2 BMMA) fights Michael Lombardo (13-3 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) at welterweight. Although Chokheli is the slight betting favorite, it’s Lombardo with a big 9-2 edge in the picks from our staff members.

In the MMA Junkie consensus picks, Carmouche (82 percent), Johnson (58 percent), McMann (77 percent), Sabatello (83 percent) and Lombardo (60 percent) are the choices.

Check out all the picks above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for Bellator 294.