Bellator Light Heavyweight Grand Prix Semifinals Set For October
By the end of the night on October 16, the finals of the Bellator Light Heavyweight Grand Prix will be set.
Bellator announced that both semifinal matchups of the Light Heavyweight Grand Prix will take place inside the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. In the main event, champion Vadim Nemkov will defend his title against Anthony Johnson. The co-main event will see Bellator Heavyweight Champion Ryan Bader take on Corey Anderson.
This will be Nemkov’s second defense of the Bellator Light Heavyweight Title since beating Bader for it at Bellator 244. He beat Phil Davis via unanimous decision to open the Grand Prix. The 29-year-old is currently on an eight-fight win streak.
Johnson made his Bellator debut in May, beating Jose Augusto via knockout. He was supposed to face Yoel Romero but the latter failed a pre-fight medical exam. That was “Rumble’s” first fight since 2017, as he retired after a loss to Daniel Cormier.
After losing to Jan Blachowicz via knockout in 2020, Anderson signed a multi-fight deal with Bellator. He beat Melvin Manhoef via TKO and beat Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov in his last fight in April via TKO.
Since joining Bellator in 2017, Bader is 6-1 with one no-contest. He has experience in Grand Prix’s, beating Fedor Emelianenko in the finals of the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix to become Bellator Heavyweight Champion. Bader lost to Nemkov back in August 2020 to lose the Light Heavyweight Title but rebounded with a unanimous decision win against Lyoto Machida in April.
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