#AndNew
#Bellator244 pic.twitter.com/dDD5R4n1Fx— ShayMyName (@ImShannonTho)
August 22, 2020
There was a shift atop the Bellator
MMA light heavyweight division, and it was seismic in
nature.
Vadim
Nemkov cut down Ryan Bader
with a head kick and follow-up punches in the second round of their
Bellator 244 headliner on Friday at the Mohegan Sun Arena in
Uncasville, Connecticut, as he became the seventh 205-pound
champion in company history. Bader (27-5, 5-1 Bellator) succumbed
to blows 3:02 into Round 2, suffering his first setback in nearly
four years.
Nemkov (12-2, 5-0 Bellator) conceded a takedown in the first round
but was responsible for virtually all of the meaningful offense. He
stung Bader with a straight right hand in Round 2, reset after an
inadvertent eye poke paused the action and floored “The Ultimate
Fighter” Season 8 winner with a perfectly placed high kick. Nemkov
chased the fallen champion to the floor, showered him with punches
and allowed him to stand before one final left hand forced referee
Kerry Hatley to act.
In the co-main event, former Bellator women’s featherweight
champion Julia Budd
rebounded from a Jan. 25 defeat to Cristiane
Justino with a unanimous decision over Jessy Miele.
Budd (14-3, 8-1 Bellator) swept the scorecards with 30-26, 30-27
and 30-27 marks from the judges.
The outcome was never in doubt. Miele (9-4, 1-1 Bellator) landed on
occasion but was physically and tactically outmatched. Budd doubled
up on right hands, scored with clinch knees and peppered the body
with front kicks. She also executed takedowns in all three rounds
and even achieved full mount on Miele—a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black
belt—late in the third round, making a pass at an arm-triangle
choke before settling for the decision.
Budd has won 12 of her last 13 fights.
Meanwhile,
Rizin Fighting Federation veteran Valentin
Moldavsky leaned on clean combination punching and a stifling
clinch, as he captured a unanimous decision from former
International Fight League champion Roy Nelson in
a three-round heavyweight feature. All three cageside judges scored
it the same: 30-27 for Moldavsky (10-1, 5-0 Bellator).
A shell of his former self, the now 44-year-old Nelson (23-19, 1-5
Bellator) was painfully inept. Moldavsky operated behind a potent
jab at range but did the majority of his heavy lifting in close
quarters. The 2018 combat sambo world champion pinned Nelson to the
fence repeatedly and occupied him with knees to the body and short
punches to the head while depleting his already-suspect gas
tank.
Moldavsky, 28, will enter his next assignment on the strength of
five consecutive victories.
Elsewhere, Gym-O export John Salter
submitted Andrew
Kapel with an arm-triangle choke in the third round of their
middleweight showcase. Kapel (15-7, 1-1 Bellator) conceded defeat
3:11 into Round 3, his career-best five-fight winning streak at an
end.
Salter (18-4, 8-1 Bellator) was methodical in his pursuits. The
Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt struck for takedowns and achieved
full mount in all three rounds, wearing down Kapel with suffocating
top control and sustained ground-and-pound. Salter exploited his
exhausted opponent in the third round, where he cinched the
arm-triangle choke while still in mount, tightened his squeeze and
forced the tapout.
The 35-year-old Salter has rattled of 10 wins across his last 11
appearances.
In other action, Yaroslav
Amosov (24-0, 5-0 Bellator) forced a cut-induced doctor
stoppage against Mark
Lemminger (11-2, 1-1 Bellator) in between the first and second
rounds of their catchweight confrontation at 175 pounds; Sidney
Outlaw (15-4, 3-1 Bellator) edged Adam
Piccolotti (12-4, 8-4 Bellator) by split decision—29-28, 28-29,
29-28—in a three-round lightweight encounter; Josh Hill
(20-3, 2-0 Bellator) cruised to a unanimous decision over Erik Perez
(19-8, 0-2 Bellator) in a three-round bantamweight scrap, earning
29-28, 30-27 and 30-27 scores from the judges; Weber
Almeida (4-0, 3-0 Bellator) cut down Salim
Mukhidinov (7-5, 1-2 Bellator) with punches 3:57 into the first
round of their catchweight tilt at 147 pounds; John de
Jesus (11-8, 1-0 Bellator) took a unanimous verdict from
Vladislav
Parubchenko (15-2, 0-1 Bellator) in a three-round catchweight
clash at 150 pounds, sweeping the scorecards with 29-28, 30-27 and
29-28 marks from the judges; Christopher
Gonzalez (5-0, 4-0 Bellator) eked out a split decision—29-28,
28-29, 30-27—over Vladimir
Tokov (5-1, 2-1 Bellator) in a three-round lightweight affair;
and Lucas
Brennan (3-0, 3-0 Bellator) put away Will Smith
(3-2, 0-1 Bellator) with punches 4:14 into the second round of
their featherweight pairing.