Bellator Russian Fighter Vadim Nemkov said in an interview with that he would like to fight with the former UFC heavyweight belt holder Francis Ngannou, who joined the PFL a year ago.
On Monday, Bellator’s takeover of the PFL league was officially announced.
— Almost six months have passed since your fight with Yoel Romero and there is no news yet about the date of your next fight. What do they tell you?
– I ask questions. It’s hard to train constantly at the pace I’m at now. They tell me we are still waiting. Just yesterday they announced the merger of the two organizations. Then we will understand how it will work out for us.
— Do you know any of the PFL fighters in the light heavyweight or heavyweight division?
— I didn’t particularly monitor this weight, I didn’t worry about it. I only know that many fighters have been disqualified after failing doping tests.
— Isn’t there a light heavyweight name in the PFL that would motivate you to stay in this category?
– In light heavyweight there is none, but in heavyweight there is some, it’s Ngannou, I would like to fight with him.
—Is this the fight where you consider yourself a winner and are you interested?
– Well yes. In general, in every fight you consider yourself a winner, if you consider yourself a loser it is of no use.
— How would you fight with Ngannou, how would you be dangerous for him?
– I think speed, precision and more combat.
— I heard from Russians that he struggles averagely. Have you heard the same thing and if so, from whom?
– Yes I heard. By Seryoga Spivak.
– And can you imagine how you translate it, despite the difference in size?
– What can you imagine, you have to go out and fight. I don’t really like to imagine or fantasize about anything.
— Did you fight with Grigori Ponomarev? Can we say that he is similar in size to Ngannou?
– In terms of size, Grisha will be even healthier. He even competes in heavyweight; his weight at camp is 130 to 140 kg. I don’t remember anyone saying about Ngannou that he weighed that much. And what’s more, Grisha still had a lot of difficulties in his youth. So they are a little different.
— Have you tried to talk about this fight with people other than journalists?
— We haven’t discussed anything yet, because we still have some misunderstandings within the organization. We don’t know what will happen next, when the tournament will take place, what the contract will be, who will be the boss, whether it will be Scott Coker,” Nemkov told .
Nemkov previously announced that he would relinquish the Bellator light heavyweight title and move up to the heavyweight division. Nemkov has been in the league since 2017 and has not suffered a single defeat in Bellator, occupying the first line in the ranking of the best fighters, regardless of weight categories.
Originally from Cameroon, Ngannou defended a belt in the UFC, after which he joined the PFL, but did not fight a single fight under MMA rules, focusing on boxing and facing Tyson Fury in Saudi Arabia. Ngannou lost to Fury after 12 rounds.
In MMA, Ngannou’s statistics are 17-3, Nemkov’s are 16-2 in the light heavyweight category.
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Source : MatchTV
I am Ashley Ortiz and I am a professional journalist working for Athletistic. My specialty is in sports journalism, particularly boxing. I have written articles for some of the most renowned publications on the subject, and my work has been featured across both print and digital media platforms.
