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here and live stream 100+ fight nights a year. Ryan Bader is
ready to defend his light heavyweight throne after nearly three
years in a higher weight class.
Bellator
MMA returns this week with
Bellator 244. The card is headlined by a light heavyweight
title fight as Bader will put one of his two belts on the line
against surging challenger Vadim
Nemkov.
This marks the first fight of 2020 for Bader (27-5, 1 NC), who is
on a historic run that has seen him capture the promotion’s
205-pound and heavyweight championship belts. The last four fights
of “Darth” Bader have all been contested at heavyweight, not
competing at light heavyweight since finishing Linton
Vassell to defend his strap in 2017. His last fight against
Cheick
Kongo ended in a no contest after an accidental eye poke kept
the challenger from continuing. Despite his recent fights at
heavyweight, Bader had no issue making championship weight by
coming in at 204 pounds.
The challenger is also undefeated inside the Bellator cage, as
Nemkov (11-2) has won all four of his appearances. Since a pair of
back-to-back losses to Jiri
Prochazka and Karl
Albrektsson in
Rizin Fighting Federation, Nemkov has rattled off a six-fight
win streak with key victories over multiple former Bellator champs
Rafael
Carvalho, Phil Davis
and Liam
McGeary. The Russian will look to upset Bader and officially
weighed 203.9 pounds.
The 11-fight card is now official, and all fighters made weight
except for Jessy Miele
(147)*, who weighed one pound above the featherweight limit for her
bout against Julia Budd.
Miele has been fined a percentage of her purse and the co-main
event will proceed as scheduled.
Bellator 244’s preliminary card will stream live on YouTube and
Dazn starting at 7:15 p.m. ET/4:15 p.m. PT. The main card will air
at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on both the Paramount Network and Dazn.
Bellator 244 Weigh-in Results:
Ryan
Bader (204) vs. Vadim
Nemkov (203.9)
Julia
Budd (145.8) vs. Jessy Miele
(147)*
Roy
Nelson (264.9) vs. Valentin
Moldavsky (234.6)
John
Salter (186) vs. Andrew
Kapel (185.1)
Yaroslav
Amosov (174.4) vs. Mark
Lemminger (174.6)
Adam
Piccolotti (155.3) vs. Sidney
Outlaw (156)
Erik
Perez (135.6) vs. Josh Hill
(136)
Weber
Almeida (147.5) vs. Salim
Mukhidinov (147.8)
John
de Jesus (149.1) vs. Vladislav
Parubchenko (149.6)
Vladimir
Tokov (155.3) vs. Christopher
Gonzalez (156)
Lucas
Brennan (145.8) vs. Will Smith
(143.7)
* Miele missed weight by one pound and has been fined a
percentage of her purse.