A pair of title fights will top the card for
Bellator 288 on Nov. 18.
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The California-based promotion announced Monday that a light
heavyweight championship rematch between Vadim
Nemkov and Corey
Anderson will headline the card, while a
previously reported lightweight title tilt pitting Patricky
Freire against Usman
Nurmagomedov will serve as the co-main event. Bellator 288
takes place at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, and the main card airs on
Showtime at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.
Nemkov and Anderson initially squared off in the finals of the
205-pound grand prix at Bellator 277, but the bout was declared a
no contest due to an accidental clash of heads 4:55 into Round 3.
Prior to the foul, Anderson appeared to be imposing his will
through wrestling in Rounds 2 and 3 after a solid opening stanza
from Nemkov.
Prior to facing Anderson, Nemkov authored a nine-bout winning
streak that included seven triumphs in Bellator MMA. The Fedorteam
representative owns notable wins over the likes of Phil Davis
(twice), Ryan Bader,
Rafael
Carvalho and Liam
McGeary.
Anderson signed with Bellator after a 10-5 stint in the UFC. He
kicked off his promotional tenure with TKO triumphs over Melvin
Manhoef, Dovletdzhan
Yagshimuradov and Bader before facing Nemkov. Anderson’s resume
also features victories against Glover
Teixeira, Jan
Blachowicz, Ilir Latifi
and Johnny
Walker, to name a few.
Freire captured lightweight gold when he defeated Peter
Queally via second-round TKO at Bellator 270 on Nov. 5. He was
scheduled to make his first title defense against Sidney
Outlaw at Bellator 283 but was forced to withdraw from the
fight due to injury. “Pitbull” is a long-tenured Bellator athlete
who has been with the organization since 2011. He has been
victorious in eight of his last 10 professional outings.
Nurmagomedov, the cousin of ex-UFC lightweight champ Khabib
Nurmagomedov, is 15-0 thus far in his pro career. He is 4-0 in
Bellator, including a first-round submission of Christopher
Gonzalez in his last outing at Bellator 283. The 24-year-old
American Kickboxing Academy product has finished 13 of his 15
triumphs inside the distance.