Bellator: Who Will Make It out of the Middleweight First Round?

The race to battle one of the baddest middleweights in the world, Hector Lombard, is on.

Bellator 61 in Bossier City, La., tonight will feature eight middleweights who will wage war in four quarterfinal bouts in the tournament that will decide the No. 1 contender for Lombard's title.

The talent in the tournament features some of the hottest prospects in MMA like Brian Rogers, Giva Santana, Vyacheslav Vasilevsky, Maiquel Falcao and Victor Vianna, but who will have their hand raised tonight?

Victor O'Donnell vs. Vyacheslav Vasilevsky

Victor O'Donnell +205

Vyacheslav Vasilevsky -275

Victor O'Donnell and Vyacheslav Vasilevsky is a fantastic way to kick off the night of fights on MTV2.

Both fighters are well-rounded guys who have strong ground games. O'Donnell holds a professional 11-3 record, while Vasilevsky holds a 15-1 record with a lot of experience in M-1 under his belt.

Vasilevsky is the favorite in this matchup, but I'm going with the underdog. I know how talented Vasilevsky is and his experience will help him out a lot, but I look for O'Donnell to take this fight to the ground and nullify Vasilevsky's submission skills.

Winner: Victor O'Donnell via Decision

Bruno Santos vs. Giva Santana

Bruno Santos +115

Giva Santana -155

Whatever you do, do not give Giva Santana your arm.

"The Arm Collector" has won 14 of his 17 MMA bouts by way of submission, and he's currently on a six-fight win streak. Santana made his Bellator debut last October and won by armbar before heading into this tournament.

His opponent, Bruno Santos, doesn't have as much as experience as Santana has, but he has an impressive 12-0 professional record.

These two will battle it out everywhere, but once Santana instigates the clinch and gets the takedown, his jiu-jitsu will be too much for Santos to handle.

Winner: Giva Santana via First-Round Submission

Vitor Vianna vs. Brian Rogers

Brian Rogers +155

Vitor Vianna -205

Brian Rogers is the real deal.

Rogers is exciting, aggressive and is an explosive striker. Of Rogers' eight wins, seven of them have come by way of KO or TKO. He enters the tournament coming off of a loss to Alexander Shlemenko, who is an excellent fighter with 44 career wins in MMA.

Rogers weakness is without a doubt the ground game, and lucky for him, he's fighting a standup fighter in Vitor Vianna. Like Rogers, Vianna is coming off of a loss to Shlemenko.

Five of Vianna's 12 career wins have come by way of KO or TKO, and Rogers' strength will be too much for Vianna to take him down.

In other words, this should be the best fight of the night, and the odds are that someone's going to sleep.

Winner: Brian Rogers via Second-Round TKO

Norman Paraisy vs. Maiquel Falcao

Norman Paraisy +245

Maiquel Falcao -325

Norman Paraisy is going to have his hands full with Maiquel Falcao.

Since beating Gerald Harris in the UFC and being fired after because of his lackluster performance, Falcao has went 2-1. The big question is can Paraisy get the takedown?

There's no denying what Paraisy wants to do against a powerful striker like Falcao, because if he connects with one of his patented flurries of strikes, Paraisy will be in all sorts of trouble.

Unfortunately for Paraisy, he won't be able to land the takedown before taking a power shot from Falcao that will send him unconscious to the canvas.

Winner Maiquel Falca via First-Round KO