On Friday, August 21st, Bellator returns to action at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, for Bellator 244: Bader vs Nemkov. The main event of the night is a light heavyweight title fight as Ryan Bader defends his belt against Vadim Nemkov.
The four fight main card features a co-main event of Julia Budd versus Jessy Miele. Also in action are Valentin Moldavsky vs Roy Nelson and Andrew Kapel vs John Salter. The prelims kick off at 7:30 PM ET, while the main card starts at 10 PM ET on Paramount and DAZN.
Bellator betting sites have released odds for the main card as of this writing. Let’s step inside the betting octagon to examine these odds, identify value or potential upsets, and calf kick these predictions.
R E V E N G E
Team Fedor’s @VadimNemkov looks to even the score when he fights @RyanBader. Re-live Bader’s road to double champ status & Vadim’s rise to the top contender spot.
It all goes down Friday night LIVE on @ParamountNet in the 🇺🇸 & @SkySports in the 🇬🇧.#Bellator244 pic.twitter.com/3KoW8Ddlo5— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) August 18, 2020
Andrew Kapel vs John Salter
- Andrew Kapel (+158)
- John Salter (-180)
This middleweight matchup will kick off Bellator’s main card as Andrew Kapel steps inside the cage for the second time under the Bellator banner. He’s currently on a five fight win streak and definitely made some noise in his promotional debut last November.
Kapel was brought in to take on Muhammed Lawal in the last fight of his career as “King Mo” was set to retire afterward. Well, it wasn’t a fairy tale ending for Lawal as he suffered a 1st round KO at the hands of Kapel.
That was only Kapel’s 4th career TKO/KO win. He has 10 submission victories on his resume and is 1-1 when going the distance.
Salter is the Bellator veteran in this fight as he steps inside the cage for the 9th time under the banner. He’s 7-1 in Bellator and 9-1 in his last 10 pro fights. In his career, Salter also has experience with Strikeforce and the UFC.
16 of his 17 pro wins have come via stoppage with nine by way of submission. He’s 1-0 when going the distance.
I’m certainly not going to write off Kapel in this fight, but Salter is the better overall fighter who can win on his feet or on the mat. Both men have suffered the majority of their losses via submission as Salter has three losses and Kapel has five losses via tap out.
I think this fight comes down to one thing – experience. Salter has more experience fighting for bigger promotions and against better fighters. I believe this will be the deciding factor in the bout.
Kapel will prove competitive, but Salter will find a way to get the stoppage victory. The only question is whether it’s a TKO/KO or a submission.
Andrew Kapel vs John Salter –Salter (-180)
Valentin Moldavsky vs Roy Nelson
- Valentin Moldavsky (-1000)
- Roy Nelson (+650)
Roy “Big Country” Nelson is the biggest underdog of Bellator 244. The former heavyweight contender in the UFC is 1-4 in his last five fights, which are all under the Bellator banner. His last win came nearly three years ago and it was via decision against Javy Ayala who Moldavsky just defeated in February.
Nelson has fought all of the top names in both promotions, but hasn’t beat really any of them since 2014. In fact, he has losses against both Cormier and Miocic who just captured the attention of the MMA world last weekend at UFC 252.
In Nelson’s last nine losses, eight of them have come via decision. He’s 4-15 when going the distance. 19 of his 23 pro wins have come via stoppage with 15 by way of TKO/KO, so look to bet the under on this MMA fight. His last TKO/KO win came in 2016 against Antonio Silva.
Valentin Moldavsky is a rising heavyweight who has been brought along nicely in Bellator. This fight is another example of how the promotion is pitting the 28 year old Russian against a name that he can beat.
Moldavsky is 4-0 with Bellator and has just one loss in his career which came via split decision nearly 4 years ago. Four of his nine pro wins have come via stoppage with three by way of submission. He’s 5-1 when going the distance.
This fight should go the distance. Six of Moldavsky’s last seven fights have gone the distance including two in a row. Nine of Nelson’s last 11 fights have gone the distance including four of his five Bellator contests.
I believe Moldavsky will get the unanimous decision win on Friday as he’s 16 years younger, more athletic and has better cardio. He should outwork Nelson for three rounds and get the victory.
Valentin Moldavsky vs Roy Nelson –Moldavsky (-1000)
Julia Budd vs Jessy Miele
- Julia Budd (-500)
- Jessy Miele (+400)
The co-main event of the night is a women’s featherweight contest as the former champ Julia Budd returns to action against Jessy Miele.
Miele enters this contest as a huge underdog. However, she is on a four fight win streak and scored a split decision victory in her Bellator debut last October against Talita Nogueira.
Six of her nine pro wins have come via stoppage with four by way of submission. She’s 3-2 when going the distance.
When we last saw Julia Budd, she had dropped her featherweight title in January to Cyborg via 4th round TKO. Budd had three successful title defenses before losing to Cyborg. After seven months, the former champ is ready for action.
💎@JuliaBudd, former women’s featherweight champ, makes her way to the Bellator cage for the 9️⃣th time to face @JessyMiele this Friday for the #Bellator244 co-main event.
Catch this bout and more on Friday night LIVE & FREE during our man card, beginning at 10/9c. pic.twitter.com/vLDOydUI3R
— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) August 16, 2020
The loss to Cyborg snapped an 11 fight win streak, but I believe Budd will start another win streak this weekend as she decimates her opponent. This is the type of fight where a former champ gets back in there, regains confidence, and reestablishes herself as a legitimate contender.
Seven of Budd’s 13 pro wins have come via stoppage with six by way of TKO/KO. She’s 6-0 when going the distance in a fight.
Miele has never suffered a TKO/KO loss before, but she’s also never faced someone the caliber of Budd. When I go to place my bets at Bellator betting sites, I’m taking Budd to pick up the 4th TKO/KO win in her last six bouts.
Julia Budd vs Jessy Miele –Budd (-500)
Ryan Bader vs Vadim Nemkov
- Ryan Bader (-150)
- Vadim Nemkov (+130)
Vadim Nemkov enters this contest on a six fight win streak, which includes victories over Carvalho and Davis in his last two bouts. He hasn’t competed in 10 months, but was able to travel from Russia to the United States to make this title fight.
10 of his 11 pro wins have come via stoppage with eight by way of TKO/KO. He’s 1-1 when going the distance.
Ryan Bader is the current light heavyweight and heavyweight champion in Bellator. Although this is the first time he’s defended the LH title in nearly three years, Bader is hoping to retain it and fight a few more times at this weight class in the near future:
“I obviously want to keep both of these belts. I can bounce back and forth pretty easily. For me, right now I’d like to defend the belt at 205 and fight again at 205, while my body is primed for that weight. It’s been some years since I’ve been down there, due to no fault on my side they just asked me to come do this heavyweight tournament and defend the heavyweight title right after the Grand Prix.
“I’d like to get a couple fights at 205. Go out there, beat Nemkov, then turn around and give Machida a title shot, get that loss back. I’d also like to fight in Japan, fight for the Rizin FF belt, finish the year with three belts.”
It’s rather amusing that Bader continues to talk about fighting Lyoto Machida again. The two previously fought in 2012 and Bader lost via 2nd round KO. He wants to avenge that loss especially since Machida is with Bellator.
Yet, I have to wonder if Bellator will make the fight considering Machida is 42 and hasn’t fought in almost a year. I don’t see this fight happening anytime soon. If anything, Bellator will pair Bader with the newly signed Anderson who just left the UFC on his own terms.
But, for Bader to accomplish any of the things he mentioned, the champ will have to win on Friday. His opponent Nemkov trains with Fedor Emelianenko who Bader knocked out in 35 seconds 19 months ago. Can Nemkov get revenge for his training partner and mentor?
Honestly, I doubt it. Bader is just too good on the mat and too physical for Nemkov to handle. The Russian has never been truly stopped. The one TKO loss on his career was due to a retirement in the fight. The other loss was via decision.
In his last few fights, Bader has been beating up older fighters past their primes. I don’t see him pummeling Nemkov into a stoppage this weekend. Yet, I do see his physicality and grappling controlling this fight and leading to a unanimous decision win.
Ryan Bader vs Vadim Nemkov –Bader (-150)
Full Bellator 244 Card
Bellator 244 Main Card
- Ryan Bader (28-5) vs Vadim Nemkov (10-3)
- Julia Budd (13-3) vs Jessica Miele (9-3)
- Roy Nelson (23-19) vs Valentin Moldavsky (9-1)
- John Salter (17-4) vs Andrew Kapel (14-6)
Preliminary Card
- Adam Piccolloti (12-3) vs Sidney Outlaw (14-4)
- Yaroslav Amosov (23-0) vs Mark Lemminger (11-1)
- Eric Perez (19-7) vs Josh Hill (19-3)
- Lucas Brennan (2-0) vs Will Smith (2-1)
- Vladimir Tokov (5-0) vs Christopher Gonzalez (4-0)
- Lance Gibson (3-0) vs Shane Kruchten (12-5)
- Weber Almeida (3-0) vs Salim Mukhidinov (7-4)
- Mike Kimble (3-2) vs Chaka Worthy (3-1)
Rick Rockwell
As a longtime freelance writer, avid sports fan, former athlete, and experienced sports bettor, Rick Rockwell has risen up the ranks at GamblingSites.org to become the self-professed “King of the Blog” in his first year with the site. …
