logan-storley.jpg
Bellator MMA

There's nothing in sports quite like a redemption story, and redemption stories don't come much better than that of Bellator welterweight Brennan Ward. Ward looks to continue that story on Friday when he faces former welterweight champion Logan Storley in the main event of Friday's Bellator 298 from Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Ward entered Bellator as a highly-regarded prospect with tremendous finishing power. Ward would spend the next several years rattling off impressive wins before suffering losses when stepping up his level of competition. The high point of Ward's time with Bellator came seven fights into his time with the promotion when he won the season nine middleweight tournament.

While Ward was fighting in the Bellator cage, his personal life was falling apart amid legal troubles and drug addiction.

"I was living this whole other life, doing drugs and selling drugs," Ward said in a Showtime Sports video. "It was wild. it was cray. I chose drugs over everything. I told myself, 'I hate fighting, I'm burned out. I don't want to do it anymore.' I wasn't burned out, I was strung out. It was just me wanting to get high all day and all night. I'm so lucky, dude, I didn't do more f---ing prison time. I could have been in there 10 or 20 years. My rock bottom was different than a lot of rock bottoms. For me, it was just my family not wanting me around. I had two months clean 10 times in 10 years. I could never make it last, especially when I was still having fun. I was still having fun. I wasn't out of money. Fentanyl is cheap. It's cheap. I bought a house when I was strung out on Fentanyl. How's that? How about that?

"... I was such a maniac when I was using that nobody wanted me around. Finally, that started to mess with me a little bit. ... Now I'm a full-time fighter again and I'm like, 'Ah, I remember all these old feelings. These feelings I don't like.' Now, I'm forced to deal with them because I have a family and I'm providing right now. Every day is a challenge, every day is exhausting but I'm learning as I go right now. For sure. Every day."

Can't get enough boxing and MMA? Get the latest in the world of combat sports from two of the best in the business. Subscribe to Morning Kombat with Luke Thomas and Brian Campbell for the best analysis and in-depth news.

After losing back-to-back fights to Paul Daley and Fernando Gonzalez in 2017, Ward wouldn't return to the cage until February 2022, when he scored a TKO win over Brandon Bell at Bellator 274. Another stoppage win followed in June 2022 with a TKO of Kassius Kayne before the most high-profile fight of Ward's career.

Ward faced Sabah Homasi in the first fight of the CBS main card of Bellator 290 in February. Early in the second round, Ward blasted Homasi with a head kick before follow-up punches brought the fight to a close. Now, having won on network television, Ward has the opportunity to main event against the No. 1 ranked challenger at welterweight.

Storley is looking to get back on the winning track after dropping a decision to Yaroslav Amosov in February. That fight was to unify the welterweight title after Storley earned the interim crown in May 2022 with a win against Michael Page.

Storley is returning to action in front of a hometown crowd at Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Both of Storley's career losses have come against Amosov, the first by split decision before Amosov made a much cleaner case with a unanimous decision in the rematch for the title. To earn another crack at Amosov, Storley can't afford to come up short in a fight against Ward, an opponent further down in the rankings at No. 7.

"It made sense, he's coming off three good wins," Storley said of the fight in an interview with Cageside Press. "Everybody else is kind of tied up, or I've fought them before. The top guys, I've all fought, and that's kind of where we were left at. And I wanted to get back in there instead of sitting on the sidelines. If you don't take this fight, then you're going to sit and wait. I didn't want to sit and wait for eight months, or almost a year, to fight again."

The undercard features some interesting matchups with fighters on the rise. The co-main event sees a rematch at heavyweight between Valentin Moldavsky and Steve Mowry. Their first encounter ended in a no contest with Mowry suffered an eye poke in the opening moments of the bout. Plus, brash Irishman James Gallagher is back in a featherweight contest against James Gonzalez.

"I'm not pissed off," Gallagher said in an interview with MMA Fighting. "The only thing I can get pissed off about is the work that I haven't done and fortunately for me, I've ticked all those boxes. I've done what needed to be done. I've got nothing to be pissed off about.

"You can be frustrated or else you can be positive about it. I'm positive. I can't be f---ed with anymore with that type of mindset. You can't f--- with someone with a positive mindset. I don't have problems, I have solutions."

Let's take a look at the complete main card before getting to an expert pick and prediction on the main event.

Bellator 298 fight card, odds

FavoriteUnderdogWeight class

Logan Storley -330

Brennan Ward +260

Welterweight

Valentin Moldavsky -230

Steve Mowry +190

Heavyweight

Dalton Rosta -220

Aaron Jeffery +180

Middleweight

James Gallagher -125

James Gonzalez +105

Featherweight

Islam Mamedov -250

Sidney Outlaw +205

Lightweight

Viewing information

  • Date: Aug. 11 | Start time: 10 p.m. ET (main card
  • Location: Sanford Pentagon -- Sioux Falls, South Dakokta
  • TV Channel: Showtime | Stream: Showtime.com or the Showtime app

Prediction

Storley has been in with dangerous strikers before, including his split decision win over Page. "MVP" is not only a dangerous finisher but also a fighter whose striking is far more technical and accurate than Ward, who employs more of a blunt-force approach to breaking down opponents. That's not to say that Ward isn't dangerous. If he lands a few clean power shots, he could quickly shut Storley's lights out.

The reality is, Storley is simply a bad stylistic matchup for Ward. Storley is a good wrestler and is relentless in his attempts to push the pace. If Ward can't catch him clean early, the fight will see Storley take over the fight more and more as his grappling wears Ward out down the stretch. Pick: Logan Storley via UD