🚨 UPDATE: Vadim Nemkov now faces Tim Johnson
at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai on Saturday 25th January.BE THERE! 🎟️ https://t.co/HZ3ZYOEyw7#RoadtoDubai
| Sat Jan 25 | Coca-Cola Arena | Dubai, UAE pic.twitter.com/YsjhJSyKpo— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA)
January 6, 2025
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Vadim
Nemkov will remain on the
Road to Dubai card after all — he just won’t be fighting
against Corey
Anderson.
Instead, Nemkov will square off against Tim Johnson
in a heavyweight bout on Jan. 25 at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai,
United Arab Emirates. The new booking was announced via the
Bellator
MMA social media account on Monday. Road to Dubai is headlined
by a lightweight championship tilt pitting Usman
Nurmagomedov against Paul
Hughes.
Nemkov was originally slated to face Ante Delija
at Road to Dubai, but that quickly changed to a trilogy bout
between the former Bellator light heavyweight king and Anderson
when Delija withdrew from the fight. However, the new bout was also
eventually scrapped for undisclosed reasons, though Anderson
blamed Nemkov for turning down the matchup.
Nemkov moved to heavyweight in his most recent outing, as he scored
a second-round submission win over Bruno
Cappelozza at a PFL vs. Bellator event this past February. The
Russian is unbeaten in his last 13 outings dating back to June
2016.
Johnson, meanwhile, has competed at heavyweight for the duration of
his professional career, which includes stints in both the
UFC and Bellator. This past year the 39-year-old fought under
the
PfL banner, scoring a first-round stoppage of Danilo
Marques in June before falling to eventual heavyweight champion
Denis
Goltsov via technical knockout in August.