Preview: Bellator 232 ‘MacDonald vs. Lima’

Robin Van Roosmalen vs. Cris Lencioni

Van Roosmalen is a former two-weight Glory kickboxing world champion, who stated that he left the kickboxing scene because it didn’t excite him anymore. He will be making his Bellator debut on Saturday. The fighter from the Netherlands has had two fights in MMA under the Final Fight Championship promotion but they were both in 2016 and 2017. During those bouts, the Dutch kickboxer picked up two stoppage wins. The first was a brutal knockout and the latter came when his opponent couldn’t stand after taking too many leg kicks. Poker face is what you expect from the world class striker. He throws accurate combos and backs it up with serious power. His bodywork and leg kicks are a thing of beauty. His straight right hand is his kill switch and already one of the best weapons any Bellator fighter possesses. The 30-year-old likes to march his foes down, not respecting anything that is thrown back in his direction. Though the decorated kickboxer has a black belt in judo, he was taken down in one of his previous MMA fights. He was able to work back to his feet, but it wasn’t immediately and admitted in an interview that he likely won’t be able to catch a submission in his bout against Lencioni.

Lencioni steps into the Bellator cage with hopes that he will be able to ruin Bellator’s investment in Van Roosmalen. The 25-year-old has compiled a 5-2 record in his brief career and is coming off a submission win over Adil Benjilany at Bellator 221 in May. Sunshine is a rudimentary striker, who appears to use his striking to just set up his grappling. Much of his striking comes from his kicks, which he attacks all areas of the body with. The ATT Portland representative is a very confident grappler, but he doesn’t set up his entries well; he usually just dives in on a leg without any timing. If he is able to close the distance, he has pulled guard trying to get the fight to the canvas. From the bottom, he uses his long legs to lock up triangles and omoplatas, but he often is too comfortable from the position, giving up valuable control time. The Fabiano Scherner protégé has also shown a low fight IQ by not fighting off a takedown attempt in a close back and forth battle, possibly costing him a fight.

This is your classic striker versus grappler matchup. I was thinking about pulling the trigger on Lencioni to pull off the upset, but I didn’t like the fact that he talked about desiring to knockout Roosmalen out on the feet. The Dutch kickboxer is a much better athlete of the two and the greatly superior striker. I expect the new Bellator addition to be pushed by Lencioni in a back and forth contest but eventually catch his foes chin with his right hand, leaving the Oregon native lying unconscious on the canvas.