Bellator light heavyweight champion Vadim Nemkov survived an early scare before retaining his title in dominant fashion at Bellator 268.
The fans inside the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona briefly thought they were about to witness a shock when Julius Anglickas – a short-notice replacement for quarter-final winner Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson – dropped the champion with a big right hand inside the opening 90 seconds of the fight.
But it was one-way traffic for the remainder of the fight as Nemkov, 29, recovered well and went on to dominate the action until he forced Anglickas to submit to a Kimura armlock with 35 seconds remaining in the fourth round.
“He caught me, but I wasn’t knocked down. I just kinda fell,” he explained after the fight.
“The reason I went more to grappling was because he’s got a hard head. I hit him with a few good shots and realised it’s not going to happen, so I decided to go with submissions.”
Nemkov then revealed the secret behind his submission finish as he switched techniques on his opponent after unsuccessfully attempting to force the tap with armbars.
“I tried for a few armbars, and he was slipping and kind of getting on top of me,” he said.
“So I decided that, OK, next time I’m going to pretend to go for an armbar, then switch to a Kimura.”
Nemkov’s victory improved his record to 15 wins, two losses and cemented his status as the man to beat in Bellator’s talent-stacked 205lb division.
It also saw the Stary Oskol native advance to the final of the Bellator light heavyweight grand prix, where he will take on former UFC contender Corey ‘Overtime’ Anderson for the tournament title.
Anderson TKO’s Bader to blast into tournament final
In the night’s first light heavyweight grand prix semi-final, Anderson scored a quickfire TKO finish of current heavyweight champion and former 205lb king Ryan Bader to surge into the tournament finale.
Before the fight, Anderson, 32, had suggested that he had enjoyed the better of the exchanges when the pair trained together earlier in their careers.
And on fight night Anderson backed up his pre-fight confidence with a stunning display as he finished the former two-division champion in just 51 seconds to book his place in the grand prix final, where a shot at the light heavyweight title awaits.
“It feels amazing. For everything that I’ve been through, everything that I’ve done,” Anderson told Bellator fight analyst John McCarthy after his victory.
“You’ve seen my career, man. I’ve been at the top with three fights on the regional circuit, and to make it here is truly a blessing.
“But [with] Ryan being a friend of mine, I hate the fact that we had to fight and it had to happen like this, but somebody had to lose.”
Primus calls for title shot after Henderson win
Former Bellator lightweight champion Brent Primus claimed victory over former UFC champion Benson Henderson, then demanded that he receive the first title shot at the new 155lb champion.
Primus, 36, showcased his strength on the mat as he dominated Henderson, 37, and threatened with submissions throughout the match-up.
Ultimately, Primus was unable to find the finish but, after earning scores of 29-28, 30-27, 30-27, the former champion said he was in pole position to challenge for the title once again.
The vacant lightweight title will be contested between Ireland’s Peter Queally and Brazil’s Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Freire at Bellator 270 in Dublin on 5 November and, after his victory over Henderson, Primus said he was the clear top contender to face the winner.
“Hell, yes it does,” he said, before offering to step in on short notice to fight for the title next month.
“[Bellator president] Scott Coker – if Queally backs out of contenders like he always does, or if Patricky somehow gets injured, I’m here. I’m the man. I’ll fight next week.
“If not? Hey, I’m in line. Let me take out either of those guys. I’ll smash ’em.”
Corrales returns to featherweight and form
In the opening bout of the night, featherweight contender Henry ‘OK’ Corrales claimed a dominant decision win over Ukrainian Vladyslav Parubchenko to push himself one step closer to a title shot at 145lb.
Corrales’ most recent outing saw him drop to 135lb to compete at bantamweight. But his submission loss to Johnny Campbell at Bellator 258 in May prompted the American to return to his natural weight class.
Back at 145lb and fighting in his adopted home of Phoenix, Corrales, 35, was cheered to the rafters by the fans as his performance against Parubchenko, 28, improved with each round to earn scores of 30-27 on all three judges’ scorecards to take his career record to 19 wins, six losses.
