Mansour Barnaoui will go against Adam Piccolotti in a Bellator 287 headliner. The event takes place Saturday, October 29th in Milan and serves as a promotion’s return to Italy.
Adam Piccolotti vs. Mansour Barnaoui – fighters’ profiles
Barnaoui sports a 19 – 4 record and will be making his Bellator debut. Interestingly enough, the Tunisian-born fighter returns to fighting after a three years long hiatus. In the early stage of his career, Barnaoui fought for a variety of European promotions including M-1 Global or KSW. During this tenure, he faced some notable opposition as Islam Makhachev, Mateusz Gamrot, and Kevin Lee. Next, he switched his attention to the South Korea-based ROAD FC promotion. There he managed to achieve the biggest success in his career. The Tunisian won a Grand Prix tournament and was awarded $1 million in prize money. He comes to Bellator strong, riding a seven-fight winning streak.
Piccolotti has a 13 – 4 professional MMA record. A member of the world-renowned AKA gym struggled with injuries and other health issues. This forced him to sit out the entire previous year. He returned to action at Bellator 274 in February and defeated Georgi Karakhanyan. Now he looks to make a statement by beating Barnoaui.
Fight prediction
Mansour Barnaoui has only one decision victory to his name. Additionally, he submitted most of his opposition with the Rear-naked choke. He managed to tap out seven different opponents with it. All of his losses came after fighting the entire distance. He never was submitted or knocked out.
Piccolotti has six submission wins on his record. Interestingly enough, he also used the Rear-naked choke to get them. However, Goiti Yamauchi was able to choke him into submission at Bellator 183. This was his only submission loss. He only has 2 TKO/KO finishes on his record.
Submission is the most possible outcome due to both fighters’ records. However, it’s more likely that they will cancel one another. This could lead to the fight going the entire distance. After the final bell fans will probably see Barnaoui’s hand going up.
