I think if Larkin is on his A-game he's as good as any WW in the world and even the super talented Rory would have his hands full. I can see Larkin hurting Rory if it stays standing but can also see him getting wrestled and controlled on the ground. It would be a great fight.
Lima is a guy who has big power and if Rory fights him to his strengths it could end bad for Rory.
All fantastic match ups. 170 is no joke in Bellator.
Also gotta say, it's exciting to see how Chidi Njokuani will develop...people don't realize Chidi is a guy who took Simon Marcus to a draw in a kickboxing world championship bout, Marcus was the number 1 Muay Thai and Number 1 ranked Kickboxer in the world at 175lbs. Chidi had a Thai bout with Joe Schilling too where he fought 15lbs above his weight class and it was a very close decision. He's 17-4-1, 28 years old and a giant for the weight class with wins over Fialho and Alan Jouban by KO in MMA. He's a great prospect, excited to see where he goes.
Michael Venom Page is another guy, 30 years old 12-0, really talented and interesting striker with the frame, maintenance of range and movement to give grapplers fits. I'm not sure how good Page is, he's given spotty performances and hasn't beaten anyone of note yet but he's got scary power, speed and a lot of hype behind him. 1 marquee win and he could blow up big time. Great prospect too.
Andrey Koreshkov at only 26 with a record of 19-2, he has been overlooked with guys like Lorenz and Rory being signed, a guy like Page is so prolific his hype can shadow a guy like Koreshkov too but I don't think we've seen the last of this Russian, he's so young and talented with big wins over Benson Henderson and Douglas Lima. But I do fear we will lose Koreshkov to one of the big Russian promotions soon, unless Bellator makes a real effort to penetrate the Russian market (which I hope they do, guys like Abubakar Nurmagomedov, Alexey Kunchenko, Mukhamed Burkhamov are three of the best welterweights not in the UFC or Bellator that they should sign.)
I really hope Bellator does all the things the UFC hasn't been. Bellator should aggressively try to break into Russia, put on big cards there and sign their better fighters, it's an investment worth making. Also I think putting a higher value on prospects and being willing to pay them is another great investment for Bellator, they've been doing it with American fighters but I'd like to see them branch out to international fighters too like Bekzd Abdurakhmonov, Robin Van Roosmalen, Tenshin Nasukawa etc.
Anyways yeah, if Bellator signs a few more great Welterweights like Ben Askren, Kunchenko, Burkhamov, they could have a Welterweight division on par with the UFC nearly.
