Corey Anderson Doesn’t Regret What He Did At Bellator 277 Vs. Vadim Nemkov
The two will meet in their rematch next weekend.
Corey Anderson almost had it.
Seven months ago, Anderson was dominating Bellator champion Vadim Nemkov in their light heavyweight battle and felt like he was just moments away from the victory, the belt and a $1 million prize.
That didn’t happen, but now Anderson gets a second chance to win it all next weekend, November 18, at Bellator 288.
But the way their first bout ended wasn’t how Anderson pictured it.
In their April fight, Anderson had the advantage and was pounding Nemkov with a barrage of punches, but that would be halted with just seconds left of round 3.
“I was coming down on top of him and we just collided,” Anderson said. “I looked at the ref [Frank Trigg] and signaled ‘That was our heads.’ The ref said ‘No, that was a legal blow.’”
But then Trigg did stop the bout. The cageside doctor examined a deep cut over Nemkov’s left eye – which was opened during the head collision – and advised that the fight shouldn’t go further.
Anderson saw the $1 million check and thought he had won – only to be corrected by officials who ruled the bout a no-contest.
Bellator rules say that if a fight is stopped due to an accidental foul after the third round, it goes to scorecards. Judges had the fight tied 19-19.
If it weren’t for Anderson signaling to the referee that he and Nemkov clashed heads, Anderson might have been declared the winner.
“I look back on it and I think I would do the same thing again,” Anderson said. “I want to be a good sport.”
Even Nemkov acknowledged that he was getting beat in that matchup.
“A fight of this caliber with so much on the line, so much money on the line, shouldn’t be decided by head butts. I think it would have been unfair if I lost the fight on head butts,” Nemkov said.
They will get another chance next Saturday in Chicago, Illinois.