Bellator 209: Pitbull vs. Sanchez - Picks and Predictions

#3 Phil Davis vs. Vadim Nemkov

Phil Davis has had an impressive run in Bellator

Okay, now we’re talking. A former title contender in the UFC, Davis made the jump to Bellator in 2015 and saw immediate success, easily defeating four opponents en route to claiming the promotion’s Light-Heavyweight title. A second loss to Ryan Bader saw him drop the title, but he’s since rebounded with two straight wins – including an impressive head kick knockout of Linton Vassell in May.

Nemkov meanwhile is another Russian fighter, although rather than being another entry from the Dagestani production line, he instead hails from a Sambo background and is a protégé of the legendary Fedor Emelianenko. The Russian rose to fame in 2015 by stopping UFC veteran Goran Reljic in RIZIN, but a pair of losses at Heavyweight in the Japanese promotion slowed down his hype train.

He’s since bounced back though and has made a red-hot start to his Bellator career, stopping tough Brazilian Philipe Lins and former champion Liam McGeary, both with strikes. The win over McGeary was particularly impressive, as he outworked the Brit in all areas and finished him off with a series of vicious leg kicks in the third round.

The issue for him in this fight, however, is Davis’ phenomenal wrestling game. A former NCAA Division I champion, Davis has essentially been able to ground anyone he’s faced outside of fellow top wrestlers Bader, Rashad Evans and Anthony Johnson. Can Nemkov’s sambo really prepare him for that?

More to the point, while Nemkov has shown excellent striking thus far, Davis is now a very different animal from the clunky striker he was in his UFC career – as his knockouts of Vassell and Francis Carmont have shown. Nemkov is an interesting prospect but this fight is coming likely too early in his career and it’s hard to see a way for him to avoid the powerful takedowns of ‘Mr Wonderful’.

The Pick: Davis via unanimous decision