Vadim Nemkov won the Bellator light-heavyweight Grand Prix championship and has successfully defended his Bellator light-heavyweight championship for the third time. He already has his next opponent lined up and will be defending for the fourth time against UFC middleweight title contender Yoel Romero.
This title match will take place on February 4, 2023, at Bellator 290. The match will be broadcast live from the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California.
The most recent bout between Vadim Nemkov and Corey Anderson took place at Bellator 288 in November, and it was quite different from their first fight. In April, Nemkov and Anderson squared up for the first time. Nemkov was absolutely dominated by Anderson in the match. The bout ended in a no-contest at the end of round three because of an unintentional headbutt.
However, Nemkov was able to thwart all 16 of Anderson’s takedown attempts in their rematch. Nemkov ended up outstriking him decisively to win by unanimous decision.
Prior to those, Nemkov had also defeated a number of former champions. Some of them include Rafael Carvalho, Liam McGeary, Phil Davis, Philipe Lins, and Liam McGeary.
On the other hand, Yoel Romero has also defeated a number of former champions. Some of the fighters he won against include Melvin Manhoef, Chris Weidman, Luke Rockhold, Lyoto Machida, and Jacare Souza.
Nemkev enters this bout with an 11 win streak (10-0, 1 NC), whereas Romero is on a two win streak. He won both of them by way of knockout.
Romero previously hinted he would move back to middleweight.
“Right now, I think all the 205 [fighters], they can chill out – they don’t have to worry about anything,” Romero told reporters after the event at 3Arena in Dublin. “I think we’re going to make the move to 185 now.”