A pair of title fights will serve as featured attractions when
Bellator 297 heads to Chicago this June.
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Vadim
Nemkov will defend his light heavyweight crown against Yoel Romero
in the evening’s main event, while Sergio
Pettis will lock horns with Patricio
Freire in a bantamweight title tilt, the California-based
promotion announced Monday. Bellator 297 takes place on June 16 at
the Wintrust Arena, and the main card airs on Showtime at 9 p.m.
ET/6 p.m. PT.
Nemkov is unbeaten in his last 11 professional appearances. The
30-year-old Fedorteam representative is coming off a five-round
verdict over Corey
Anderson in the finals of the 205-pound grand prix at Bellator
288 this past November. His resume includes wins over the likes of
Phil
Davis (twice), Ryan Bader,
Liam
McGeary and Philipe
Lins.
A former middleweight title challenger in the UFC, Romero has been
victorious in two of his first three promotional outings. After
dropping a split verdict to Phil Davis in
his debut, “The Soldier of God” has scored back-to-back KO/TKO
triumphs against Alex
Polizzi and Melvin
Manhoef under the Bellator banner.
Pettis will return to active competition for the first time since
an ACL injury forced him to withdraw from the Bellator bantamweight
grand prix. The Roufusport standout claimed 135-pound gold with a
unanimous decision triumph against Juan
Archuleta at Bellator 258 before defending the crown with a
spinning backfist knockout of Kyoji
Horiguchi at Bellator 272 in December 2021.
Freire, the reigning featherweight title holder, will attempt to
become champ-champ for a second time after previously holding the
Bellator lightweight belt. The 35-year-old “Pitbull” enters the
matchup on a three-bout winning streak, which includes title bout
wins over A.J. McKee and
Adam
Borics as well as a three-round verdict against Rizin champ
Kleber
Koike Erbst in a cross-promotional affair.