BELLATOR 257: Nemkov vs. Davis 2 saw incumbent 205-pound champion Vadim Nemkov (13-3) retain his championship, he now awaits his future opponent. In the co-main event, No. 3-ranked Corey Anderson (15-5) advanced to the semi-finals to face No. 4-ranked pound-for-pound athlete Ryan Bader (28-6, 1 NC) at a future date in the Bellator Light Heavyweight World Grand Prix.
BELLATOR MMA returns to action on May 7 with a bantamweight world title fight pitting champion Juan Archuleta (25-2) against No. 1 ranked Sergio Pettis (20-5) and a Light Heavyweight World Grand Prix opening round pairing between the debuting Anthony “Rumble” Johnson (22-6) and Yoel Romero (13-5) to determine Nemkov’s next title challenger. Bellator 258 airs exclusively on SHOWTIME at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.
“You know how I fight. I come out there and throw bombs,” Johnson said. “If you get in the way and get hit, that’s just what happens. Romero is a hell of an athlete. We all have watched him fight. For his age, which to me doesn’t play a factor at all, he’s a beast. I’m very excited to fight a man of his caliber. He’s a true challenge to anybody that he faces. I look forward to testing myself against him. He’s definitely an opponent that I respect. Somebody that I know I’ll enjoy fighting and the fans will enjoy it too.
“Right now, I can’t look past Yoel. I really can’t. I don’t look that far ahead. I have goals, but right now I got one of the toughest individuals you can possibly face in my face May 7. I’m looking forward to it and I just need to focus on Yoel. I’m just going to let the dice roll the way they’re going to roll and whoever makes it to the next round, I’ll focus on that later. Right now, I just need to focus on one individual and everybody else is not even on my radar right now. I just got to focus on the man that’s trying to knock my head off.”
BELLATOR MMA 257: Nemkov vs. Davis 2 Main Card:
c-Vadim Nemkov (13-2) defeated #2-Phil Davis (22-5, 1 NC) via unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 48-47)
Vadim Nemkov: “My plan was to out-strike him today and defend the wrestling. I’m pretty happy with my performance but I had some mistakes and I’m going to work on them for next time.
“It’s very hard to knock out Phil Davis so I was getting ready for a five round fight and I knew it was going to go the distance. Our conditioning was on point.
“Both fighters [Johnson and Romero] are very unpredictable. They can strike or wrestle. I’m a champion and I’m ready for whoever wins that fight. It doesn’t matter to me who I face. Both fighters are really good on the ground or standup and it’s going to be a good fight for me either way.”
#3-Corey Anderson (15-5) defeated Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov (18-6-1) via TKO (punches) at 2:15 of round three
Corey Anderson on facing Ryan Bader: “I love the matchup with Bader. I love the matchup with anybody in this tournament. I love the matchup with any 205-er in the world because I know how good I am. I’m just going to show the rest of the world that. Me and Bader, we have history from training together and like I said, one person knows. He knows. We’re just going to find out in July when we match up. One man has to go out there and make the statement on TV.
“He knows who he’s matched up against. That’s all. I ain’t one of those dudes who’s going to put the film out there on Instagram because that ain’t a good sport. But at the same time, he knows. We know. They know it’s going to be a tough match. He’s gotten better. I’ve gotten better. He knows it’s going to be a war. It’s not like he’s going to go in there and take me down like he does with all these other guys. Because he knows. He knows he ain’t gonna go out there and out-strike me.”
#7-Veta Arteaga (6-4) defeated Desiree Yanez (5-3) via majority decision (28-28, 29-27, 29-27)
Paul Daley (47-17-2) defeated #8-Sabah Homasi (15-9) via TKO (punches) at 1:44 of round two
#1-Julia Budd (15-3) defeated Dayana Silva (9-6) via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
#5-Julius Anglickas (10-1) defeated Gregory Milliard (12-5) via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
#7-Steve Mowry (9-0) defeated Shaun Asher (13-4-1) via TKO (punches) at :55 of round one
Grachik Bozinyan (11-4) defeated Demarques Jackson (11-5) via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Raymond Daniels (3-1, 1 NC) defeated Peter Stanonik (4-4, 1 NC) via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-26)
Lance Gibson Jr. (4-0) defeated Marcus Surin (6-3) via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Karl Albrektsson (11-3) defeated Viktor Nemkov (30-8-1) via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
#10-Mads Burnell (15-3) defeated Saul Rogers (14-4) via submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:08 of round two
#7-Jay-Jay Wilson (8-0) defeated #4-Pedro Carvalho (11-5) via TKO (strikes) at :53 of round two