Bellator 257 results: Vadim Nemkov defeated Phil Davis for the second time, this time to retain his Light Heavyweight title and move on to the next round of the Grand Prix.
Updated Bellator Light Heavyweight Grand Prix bracket ahead of Bellator 257: ‘Nemkov vs Davis 2’ (Pic)
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Bellator 257 is set to go down tonight (Fri., April 16, 2021) inside Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., featuring not one, but two opening round match ups for the promotion’s Light Heavyweight Grand Prix, which could crown a new champion and award the last man standing a whopping $1 million payday. Related
Last week, former 205-pound champion, Ryan Bader, defeated Lyoto Machida in a five-round affair at Bellator 256 to advance to the next round (see it again here). He will face the winner of this weekend’s bout between Corey Anderson and Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov in the semifinals.
Bellator 257 features the second week of the Light Heavyweight Grand Prix quarterfinal round, with champion Vadim Nemkov squaring off against Phil Davis in the evening’s headliner. One undercard fight that should not be missed is a featherweight match-up between Pedro Carvalho and Jay Jay Wilson. These guys are ground specialists and recently ranked top-10 fighters in the Bellator rankings system, which means that this fight has massive implications for the future of the company’s featherweight division.
Carvalho joined Bellator in 2018 with a 6-3 record. He went 4-0 with the promotion and earned a quarterfinal spot in the Featherweight Grand Prix, as well as a title shot against Patricio “Pitbull” Freire. His winning streak included finishes over Derek Campos and Sam Sicilia. Carvalho stopped Campos via first-round ground-and-pound and Sicilia with a second-round face-crank submission.
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Bellator MMA’s new relationship with Showtime continues with another Friday night that’s alright for fighting. Just as we did last week, we’re headlining with a rematch, although this one is almost nine years in the making. At UFC on FOX 4 in Los Angeles, Calif., Lyoto Machida knocked out Ryan Bader in the second round at a point in his career where Bader says he, “knew nothing about striking.” Now, he’s eager to find out how much he’s improved over the last decade by running this fight back a second time.
At age 37, there’s no doubt that Bader has developed from a collegiate wrestling stud to a full-fledged striker, grappler and submission arts practitioner in the intervening years. Even so, “Darth” can’t allow himself to take “The Dragon” lightly. It’s true that Machida lost each of his last two fights, but if you’re losing to both Phil Davis and Gegard Mousasi by split decision, those losses are at least partial victories. In neither case did Mach
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