Jay Hieron vs. Steve Carl

Newly-signed Jay Hieron’s(19-4) Bellator career is set to begin, as he will face Steve Carl(14-2) on March 5th according to Sherdog.

Hieron’s MMA journey has suffered its fair share of ups and downs. Hieron(ranked #19 WW) first made his name known at UFC 48 as a 4-0 undefeated prospect, where he lost his debut at against fellow prospect  and future UFC welterweight champion Georges St.Pierre back in 2004. Since then, Hieron’s career has undergone strange twists and turns, as he fought for virtually every promotion in the USA(IFL, WEC, Affliction, and Strikeforce) over the last 4 years. Hieron’s strengths are his wrestling and vicious ground n’ pound.

Steve Carl may not possess all the tools that Hieron has, but he is a solid grappler who can grind out opponents. Carl lost in Bellator’s 2010 welterweight tournament to finalist Dan Hornuckle, but previous to that looked he had run off 8 straight wins against fairly-stiff competition.

Carl may have the advantage on the ground, but he’s going to have a real hard time keeping Hieron there, so they will likely cancel each other out in that department, which means this fight will come down to conditioning and striking. Hieron’s striking is much more developed at this point, so expect Hieron to likely win this fight and move past the 1st round in pursuit of last year’s tournament winner Ben Askren.