Vadim Nemkov has clearly established himself as the man to beat in Bellator’s light heavyweight tournament, following Friday’s convincing title defense over Phil Davis.
Nemkov (14-3) is already Bellator’s 205-pound champion, but with bigger names in the promotional tournament, including Anthony “Rumble” Johnson, Yoel Romero and Ryan Bader, it will be easy to overlook him. The 28-year-old Russian reminded the rest of the field of his talents Friday in a five-round decision over Davis.
All three judges won the championship battle, which Bellator won 257 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, for Nemkov 48-47. The win is Nemkov’s first defense of the light heavyweight title he won from Bader last year and advances to the semifinals of the tournament, where he will face Johnson or Romero.
“My plan was to defeat him and defend his struggle,” Nemkov said via an interpreter. “I’m pretty happy with my performance, but I made mistakes. I’ll work on that next time.”
Nemkov, who trains under the legendary Russian heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko, looked excellent in the first three rounds. He mixed his offense beautifully by attacking Davis’ front leg with low kicks, and his body and head with hitting combinations. He dropped Davis in the third round with a left hook in the middle of the cage.
Davis (22-6), who from 2018 wanted to avenge a very careful loss of Nemkov for Nemkov, made the tide turn in the later rounds. He lands an overhand near the back of Nemkov’s ear which temporarily shakes his balance and forces him to retreat into battle for the first time. Davis continued to build on that momentum in a now-contested fifth round, but the 13-year-old veteran dug himself too deep into the hole early on. Davis’ remarkable point of never ending up in a fight, however, remains intact.
For Nemkov, it expands its active winning streak to eight in a row. He will find out his next opponent on May 7 when Johnson and Romero meet in Bellator 258. Both former UFC vets will make their MMA debuts in Bellator.
Anderson advances to the semifinals with a dominant performance
Corey Anderson (15-5) makes no secret of the fact that he intends to take down his opponents and knock them out until someone stops him. Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov could not stop him.
Anderson advanced to the Bellator MMA Light Heavyweight Tournament semifinals through Yagshimuradov (18-6-1) via TKO to complete 2:15 of the third round. The win puts him in a match against former champion Ryan Bader, who defeated Lyoto Machida in his opening round a week ago.
When fighting from New Jersey, Anderson used his wrestling to take down Yagshimuradov in the second and third rounds and completely neutralize his offense. The Turkmenistan resident chased a few home attacks in the opening round and was close to Anderson with a spinning header, but eventually succumbed fairly early to the struggle.
“I was not hurt, but just struck off balance,” Anderson said on the header that apparently made him dull. “I told Coach, ‘I’m fine, it did not shake me. But it took me out of where I was.’ I just kept my composure and made it through to the next round. ‘
Once Anderson started getting Yagshimuradov on the ground, things quickly bowled for the former UFC veteran. He went to work with his elbows from the top position and at some point in the second round moved on full mountain. Yagshimuradov looked very uncomfortable from the left flank for a corner.
Anderson improved to 2-0 in the Bellator MMA cage.
Daley wins rough start, knocks Homasi out in two
Paul Daley said he did not respect the striking power of Sabah Homasi who was in their 175-pound catch weight fight on Friday night – but it did not take long before that changed.
Daley (42-17-2) scored a TKO finish over Homasi (15-8) at 1:44 of the second round, but only after being nearly knocked out in the first minute of the match. Homasi, who trains from the American Top Team, shakes Daley with an early right hand and lets him fall along the fence moments later with blows.
Referee Kevin Macdonald remained on top of the action, but Daley, 38, did just enough to survive. After getting up again, he hurriedly turned the tables over, stunned Homasi with three unanswered knees in the final round in the last minute of the opening round. The finish quickly came in second place as Daley settled with real rights, then a hard left hook.
“I did not give him the respect he deserved,” Daley said. ‘That child can slap just as hard as [welterweight champion Douglas Lima]. Looking back on my fights, I did not really fall away and have been there with some of the best strikers. Much respect to Homasi. ‘
For Daley, who is fighting from Nottingham, England, it was his first appearance since October 2019.
Former title challenger Arteaga deserves a nod to Yanez
The flyweight candidate, Veta Arteaga (6-4), was able to point out Desiree Yanez (5-3) by majority decision, despite a point deduction in the second round for an illegal knee.
Two judges recorded the fight 29-27 for Arteaga, while a third tied 28-28 with the point deduction. Arteaga was determined to throw a knee to a grounded opponent as she did not see Yanez having a hand on the mat in a head lock position. However, Yanez was not badly injured by the knee and manages to continue after a short break.
Overall, it was Arteaga’s boxing that prescribed the match, as she maintained a constant series of offenses on her feet. Yanez had her moments and removed a handful of tasks, but just could not score enough points to beat Arteaga on the scorecard. Arteaga, who unsuccessfully challenged Ilima-Lei Macfarlane for the title in April 2019, cut a two-way slide.