Vadim Nemkov vs. Tim Johnson Announced for Road to Dubai on Jan. 25

🚨 UPDATE: Vadim Nemkov now faces Tim Johnson at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai on Saturday 25th January.

BE THERE! 🎟️ https://t.co/HZ3ZYOEyw7#RoadtoDubai | Sat Jan 25 | Coca-Cola Arena | Dubai, UAE pic.twitter.com/YsjhJSyKpo

— Bellator MMA (@BellatorMMA) January 6, 2025

Vadim Nemkov will remain on the Road to Dubai card after all — he just won’t be fighting against Corey Anderson.

Instead, Nemkov will square off against Tim Johnson in a heavyweight bout on Jan. 25 at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The new booking was announced via the Bellator MMA social media account on Monday. Road to Dubai is headlined by a lightweight championship tilt pitting Usman Nurmagomedov against Paul Hughes.

Nemkov was originally slated to face Ante Delija at Road to Dubai, but that quickly changed to a trilogy bout between the former Bellator light heavyweight king and Anderson when Delija withdrew from the fight. However, the new bout was also eventually scrapped for undisclosed reasons, though Anderson blamed Nemkov for turning down the matchup.

Nemkov moved to heavyweight in his most recent outing, as he scored a second-round submission win over Bruno Cappelozza at a PFL vs. Bellator event this past February. The Russian is unbeaten in his last 13 outings dating back to June 2016.

Johnson, meanwhile, has competed at heavyweight for the duration of his professional career, which includes stints in both the UFC and Bellator. This past year the 39-year-old fought under the PfL banner, scoring a first-round stoppage of Danilo Marques in June before falling to eventual heavyweight champion Denis Goltsov via technical knockout in August.