Vadim Nemkov Short on Patience, Long on Ambition

𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗩𝗬𝗪𝗘𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗛 𝗜𝗡 𝗗𝗨𝗕𝗔𝗜 🇦🇪📍

Former @BellatorMMA Light Heavyweight World Champion Vadim Nemkov and Tim Johnson collide on January 25th#RoadToDubai | Sat Jan 25 | Coca-Cola Arena | Dubai, UAE | Streaming on @SportsonMax pic.twitter.com/y3J1UcDpGH

— PFL (@PFLMMA) January 23, 2025

Former Bellator MMA titleholder Vadim Nemkov will make his second appearance under the Professional Fighters League banner when he confronts Tim Johnson in the PFL Champions Series 1 co-main event on Saturday at Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Johnson replaces “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 19 winner Corey Anderson on short notice.

It has been a bit of a whirlwind for Nemkov, who has not fought in almost a year.

“I’m really excited because I’ve been waiting for this moment for the last 11 months,” he told Sherdog.com. “I’m ready—100%—and I always want to step in there as soon as I can to compete.”

The PFL’s purchase of Bellator and subsequent decision to shutter the organization’s doors marked the end of a chapter for Nemkov. He looks forward to the opportunities ahead of him.

“It’s exciting and sad at the same time,” Nemkov said. “I’m excited because it’s the beginning of the year and I’m on the card with the first promotional event in Dubai. I’m sad because Bellator was a great company that I was a part of for a long time. I was a champion there for a long time. It truly is sad and exciting.”

With the future somewhat murky and plenty of moving parts in play, the PFL has a heavyweight tournament to fill out and the potential return of divisional superstar Francis Ngannou for which to prepare. Nemkov just wants to avoid any more extended layoffs.

“To me, as a fighter, the most important part is to stay active,” he said. “I definitely want to win this fight and then get back into the SmartCage as soon as possible. It doesn’t really matter if it’s a fight for the title, Ngannou or whoever. I was definitely looking forward to fighting [Ngannou] if he’s going to stay in MMA. He’s one of the biggest names at the moment. I’d love to fight him.”

Nemkov also does not shy away from discussing a potential trilogy bout with Anderson. Their first encounter ended in a no contest at Bellator 277 in April 2022. Nemkov won the rematch via unanimous decision at Bellator 288 seven months later.

“Honestly, I’m at the moment in my career where every fight has to make some sort of sense,” he said. “It has to make financial sense, [and] it has to make sense in terms of legitimacy of the fight. Corey is a good guy. The problem with him is that he’s never fought at heavyweight. I understand he’s desperate to fight. He would love to fight. He’d like to be active, but that fight has to make sense. Let’s say if it’s for the belt or for the money. I would fight him easily. If you watch the last fight, he couldn’t do anything. He was extremely frustrated. I won four rounds out of five. That fight has to make sense. If PFL offered me something I couldn’t resist, I would fight him easily. He’s an easy fight.”

For now, Nemkov focuses on the challenge at hand. He hopes his fight with Johnson leads to a much busier schedule in the months ahead.

“I would love to show, as always, that I’m going to leave 100% in the cage,” Nemkov said. “I want to show an exciting fight. I want my fans to be happy with my win over Tim.”