The American Phoenix hosted the Bellator 268 tournament, the main event of which was a duel between Russian Vadim Nemkov and Lithuanian Julius Englikas.

For a native of Belgorod and a pupil of Fedor Emelianenko, this was the second defense of the world light heavyweight title.

In addition, a ticket to the Bellator Grand Prix final was at stake in this fight.

Initially, Nemkov had to face a completely different opponent.

He was prepared for a meeting with the American Anthony Johnson, a former UFC star and two-time contender for the championship belt.

In 2020, he resumed his career after a three-year hiatus and immediately knocked out Brazilian Jose Augusto in the Grand Prix quarterfinals.

So he quickly earned the opportunity to challenge the champion of the second most important promotion.

However, a month before the fight, which promised to be one of the most intriguing in 2021, Johnson refused to enter the ring.

Sources close to him said that the 37-year-old felt unwell due to illness.

The fighter himself confirmed this, but refused to disclose the details of his condition, only noting that he did not get sick with coronavirus.

In the future, Johnson intends to return to mixed martial arts.

Nemkov had to look for a new rival, and Bellator's choice was somewhat surprising. The organizers did not redraw the Grand Prix grid and give the Russian someone someone who would have already participated in the quarterfinals. Instead, they gave Anglikas a chance, who only had three Bellator fights under his belt. Not all MMA fans knew what kind of fighter he was and what he was capable of. Nemkov himself, however, was quite well aware of this.

“I think his strength is fighting and physical strength. And the fact that he can functionally breathe three rounds. This is what I saw. But now he has to fight for five rounds. There will be a completely different battle, a different opponent and a different level of opposition. Will the title won in the Grand Prix be especially important to me? Throughout the entire Grand Prix, I have been defending my champion title. And it's important for me to win every fight. And the victory in such a tournament will be really significant in my career. After all, serious fighters are gathered here. Very famous. This is a high-level Grand Prix, ”the Russian was quoted as saying by“ Championship ”before the fight.

Before Nemkov and Englikas entered the ring, another semi-final took place between Ryan Bader and Corey Anderson from the USA.

Their fight did not last even a minute - already at the 51st second, Anderson knocked out his opponent and got the opportunity to challenge the winner of the next fight.

In it, events developed in a completely different way.

Nemkov and Englikas did not rush the event and at first looked closely at each other for a long time.

The first notable event was the poke of a Lithuanian in the eye of a Russian, which required a short pause.

As the fight continued, Englikas added another powerful blow, from which Nemkova took a slight lead.

However, the Lithuanian himself did not expect such strength from himself and reacted late to try to finish off the champion.

Nemkov was not embarrassed by such an unpleasant development of the battle.

At the end of the first round, he managed to transfer the challenger to the ground and fill him with a barrage of blows.

From that moment on, Anglikas no longer succeeded, and only thanks to his physical form he delayed the inevitable defeat.

In the third round, the floor turned red due to the blood of the Lithuanian, but he continued to endure.

It all ended in the fourth round.

After another transfer to the ground, Englikas could not stand Nemkov's painful hold and gave up.

The Russian won his seventh Bellator fight and 14th in his career.

He noted that the opponent resisted him for too long, but the techniques worked out during the preparation helped bring the battle to victory.

“Anglikas's only hit in the first round?

He just knocked me down with this blow, but I didn't swim, there was no knockdown.

Julius has a strong head, I hit several times well, but he took the blows, respect him.

At first I tried several times to go to the armbar, and then went to the kimura.

We worked it out in training, "Nemkov told Sport-Express.

Ahead of the Bellator champion is a fight with Anderson, the time and place of which has not yet been determined.

The winner of the Grand Prix will receive $ 1 million in prize money.