Vadim Nemkov Rides Winning Streak Into Dubai

Vadim Nemkov (20-2, 1 NC MMA, 3-0 PFL) hasn't fought inside the SmartCage in close to a year's time. Last December, he fought in PFL Europe 4 in Lyon, France for the then-vacant PFL Heavyweight Championship in the evening's main attraction.

That evening, Nemkov's opposition in the cage was Renan Ferreira (13-6, 3 NC MMA, 7-4, 3 NC PFL.) He got his hand raised in victory after five rounds of action. With the championship now in his possession, Nemkov has been on the sidelines ever since.

This ends on Saturday. Hours before UFC 334 takes place stateside inside Madison Square Garden, the MMA world first turns its attention to the United Arab Emirates. Coca-Cola Arena serves as the setting for PFL Dubai. Nemkov will be defending his belt for the first time during the headlining bout of this event versus Sergey Bilostenniy (15-4 MMA, 4-1 UFC.) It'll be a five-round fight at five minutes per round to close the show.

Vadim Nemkov Enters PFL Dubai on Hot Streak

Vadim Nemkov has gone 5-0 in his last five fights. He's gone unbeaten in his last 15 fights. In order to find the last time where Nemkov didn't get his hand raised in victory, you'd need to travel back to April of 2022 in the now-defunct Bellator MMA.

That night, inside San Jose's SAP Center, Nemkov's light heavyweight championship fight against Corey Anderson was stopped during the third round of the contest due to an accidental foul. Because the clash of heads took place before the fourth round of the tournament final began, the judges were not permitted from scoring the fight.

Tournament rules dictated that a fight could only be scored by the judging panel once three full rounds were contested. The no-contest necessitated that the tournament final was to be rebooked. Upon a reschedule date being set for the following November, Vadim Nemkov successfuly defended the Bellator MMA Light Heavyweight Championship by way of unanimous decision after 25 minutes of action.

Vadim Nemkov Keeps Winning Streak Going Under PFL Banner

After the rebooking took place four years ago, Nemkov returned in the spring of 2023 for a fight versus Yoel Romero during Bellator 297. This contest against "Soldier of God" was a rebooking of a postponed fight from Bellator 290 on the CBS Television Network from the previous February.

While Yoel Romero withdrew from the originally-scheduled bout due to reasons unknown about a month prior to the Feb. 4, 2023 date, the outcome was the same on the date of the reschedule: Nemkov made a fourth defense of the title after five rounds. In November of 2023, the PFL bought Bellator MMA and in early 2024, PFL vs, Bellator was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Bruno Cappelozza served as Vadim Nemkov's adversary that night in a heavyweight bout, with the latter submitting the former by way of rear-naked choke during the second round of action. He's remained a fixture on the PFL's heavyweight roster to this day.