Vadim Nemkov has been playing in Bellator since 2017, in 2020 the fighter won the light heavyweight championship belt in a duel with Ryan Bader. And until the middle of spring 2022, Nemkov’s statistics in Bellator were just perfect – seven wins in seven fights (only the two fights with Phil Davis went the full distance). The Bellator Light Heavyweight Grand Prix Final falls on April 15, where the winner will take home $1 million. In the final fight, Nemkov fought former UFC fighter Corey Anderson, and that fight ended seconds before the end of the third round.
If you remember what happens, the first segment was left for Nemkov, the second and third were for Anderson, but 10 seconds before the siren, Nemkov had a severe cut from a head collision, and . .. As a result, the fight was declared invalid.
Now, a second attempt to determine the winner of the Bellator Light Heavyweight Grand Prix is scheduled for November 18. And the indoor fighter Fedor Emelianenko Nemkov, who admitted that in the first fight with Corey Anderson did not look the best, made an interesting move – he first went to the first stage of the camp training in Thailand for the first time (according to Nemkov, in order to work with top Russian heavyweight Anatoly Malykhin), and is currently training with American Top Team.
It was during the second leg that contacted Nemkov to talk about preparing for one of the main fights of his career. But our conversation began, of course, with an analysis of the UFC 280 tournament in Abu Dhabi, or rather the fight between Peter Yan and American Sean O’Malley and the fight between Islam Makhachev and Brazilian Charles Oliveira.
“I FIGHTED MAKHACHEV WITH A 20 KG WEIGHT DIFFERENCE, BUT I FELT THAT POWER”
– Peter Yan and Sean O’Malley always had an even fight with Peter’s advantage after all. Jan hit well, – Nemkov started a conversation with . – Yes, O’Malley had a good shot (knee in the third round), but that’s fine. Petya won the first round with a slight advantage, and Petya also won the second round. The third was equal. Sean came in and Petya translated. Perhaps other factors influenced the judges’ decision.
– Someone is talking about the politicization of this decision – O’Malley won by a split decision of the judges. There is an opinion that the UFC is more profitable than promoting O’Malley.
“I was thinking about that too. Here you try not to think about politics, especially in the UFC. There are no political issues in this organization. Guys also come out with a flag and symbols nationals. I also thought about the stakes. Maybe that played some part. Everyone bet on Peter winning and then it turned out to be an even fight. I have friends who have rarely resorted to betting, but they fought.
“Okay, and O’Malley’s actions cannot be discredited.
— O’Malley showed a good fight. He prepared well for Peter, his merits also cannot be understated. But Peter was even better.
What advice would you give Jan regarding his future career?
– Peter is a top fighter. And advising him something is stupid. He will discuss everything with his technical staff. I don’t like giving advice.
– Now I would like to know your opinion on the main event of UFC 280, in which Makhachev crushed Oliveira.
– Makhachev really moved Oliveira. I didn’t expect it to be so easy. Islam downgraded the opponent, Oliveira simply did not collect the keys. Islam has won a beautiful and confident victory.
“Is it good that combat sambo dominates?” (Nemkov is a four-time world champion in combat sambo, while Makhachev won this tournament in 2016).
– I am very happy for Islam. We were with him more than once in the team. It’s good that the combat sambists are on top.
“Do you remember Makhachev when he was on the combat sambo team?”
” He did not changed. Even then, he was modest, calm and level-headed. I had to work with him – and box and wrestle. When I wrestled with him, I weighed about a hundred, and he fought at 74 kg in the weight race … And we had a difference of 20 kg, but then I felt strong physical strength and control of Islam. He fights very well.
– How do you see Makhachev’s future prospects?
I think he came to rule for a long time. Look, Oliveira has beaten every top fighter in the division. Only Beniel Dariush remained, perhaps. Maybe, if only him. And so the rest of Islam in the struggle of all will simply move on.
“I GOT A BLUE ON THE FIRST DAY OF WORKING IN THAILAND”
– You have less than a month left before the Grand Prix Final. Can you assess the condition today?
– I am now at the last stage of preparation, there will be more sparring, wrestling. I have a good form, I dried myself, the weight increased. There was speed. Now that I’ve arrived in Miami on America’s Top Team, I’m going through the final stage of preparation. There are sparring partners here, and in general there is everything. Valentin Moldavsky came with me and helped me. So everything will be fine.
But let’s start in order. Now you have held a training camp in Thailand for the first time.
– Yes yes. This preparation is fundamentally different from all previous preparations. Speaking about the reasons for the trip to Thailand, the first is Anatoly Malykhin. I wanted to fight him, we did. When I arrived and went through acclimatization, Tolya rested, then we wrestled and boxed a lot with him. In addition to Anatoly, there were also guys from other countries, besides there were a lot of guys from Dagestan. I was good at boxing and wrestling.
– Can you summarize the results of the fight with Malykhin?
– He’s a good fighter. Tolya has obtained very good results now in percussion technique. When we saw him in training camp, his striking was not like that. In this aspect, he scored. And how powerful he was, and remains. In general, I had a powerful and fruitful gathering.
– I saw a photo from the training camp in Thailand, where you have a noble black eye.
– Just when Tolya was leaving to rest. Roman Kryklya was there, he is a top kickboxer, One FС champion. So I paired up with him and I missed a bit (laughs). It turns out that he flew under the helmet.
There were various comments under this photo.
“I didn’t pay attention to it. But it was something else. I did not train with my team, but got fit at home – in Belgorod with boys of not very high level. And I came to Thailand, I was acclimatizing, and it’s hard, plus I didn’t oppose the best. And then I got up with such a two-meter-tall kickboxer… While I was getting used to these punches… In general, I missed it. And that was our first sparring with Roma. And the second sparring was easier, I didn’t miss so many, I saw some hits.
“WHEN YOU FIGHT IN THE USA YOU MUST UNDERSTAND – IN THE EQUAL DUEL THEY WILL BE GIVEN TO THE OTHER SIDE”
– And why did you decide to change your training so radically? Is it dissatisfaction with the first fight with Anderson?
– I said more than once that I had minor health problems that simply took away my strength. Now I feel like I’ve eliminated everything. And now that Vadim Nemkov, who was before, should return.
– You are now part of the American Top Team.
“There are a lot of sparring partners here. It’s like a treadmill – for this reason it is good to train. We have analyzed the training plan, there will be a lot of sparring partners, we will train a lot and fight. Moreover, now everyone is ready to help me, the situation is good.
– It is clear that for you the first fight with Anderson did not go as you wanted. Did the American himself surprise you with anything?
“His fight is different from our fight. It is difficult to find such wrestlers in Russia. It’s called college wrestling. And she is a little different from free. I think I will eliminate all errors, everything will be fine. In general, he fights well.
– Is it possible to send a message to Anderson not to relax, because he will fight the best version of Vadim Nemkov?
– Maybe.
– At the very beginning of the conversation, we discussed Petr Yan’s fight and considered the possibility of a politicized decision. And in Bellator, Russian fighters compete under a neutral flag. Are you afraid that “forces from another world” may influence the decision?
– When you fight, in America, you have to understand that you are fighting. And in an equal fight, they can always give victory to the other side. You need to get back to fighting with confidence, and preferably ahead of schedule.
Source : MatchTV
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
