Vadim Nemkov outstrikes lethargic Yoel Romero to retain title at Bellator 297
Lucas Noonan/Bellator MMA
Vadim Nemkov really wanted a finish, but Yoel Romero just refused to go away.
Despite his disappointment at not scoring a knockout, Nemkov still orchestrated a masterful outing to beat Romero for the better part of 25 minutes en route to a unanimous decision win in the main event of Bellator 297. While Romero displayed great durability, his offense was nearly nonexistent, and that allowed Nemkov to tee off during the majority of the exchanges.
When it was over, all three judges scored the fight 49-46 for Nemkov, who retained his light heavyweight title in victory.
"I'm very proud to share the octagon tonight with a legend tonight as Romero," Nemkov said. "It was a tough fight. He's a very tough opponent. Very tough to knock him out.
"I saw he was acting up a little bit and I just kept going, doing my job. I was trying to land all the punches from distance, but he has a very tough head."
Nemkov was on the attack immediately as he came after Romero with untethered aggression, displaying a nasty lead jab and consistently looking to connect with a head kick. Romero, who usually feasts on opponents willing to come after him, was uncharacteristically inactive with Nemkov right in his face.
It was a measured game plan from Nemkov, who tossed out lead left hands and then followed up with powerful rights behind it. His speed and output gave Romero headaches as the Olympic silver medal winning wrestler struggled to catch up to him.
Time and time again, Nemkov was just far more active as he really began picking Romero apart on the feet. On the other side, Bellator statistics showed Romero had only thrown 10 strikes as the second round came to a close.
Nemkov continued blasting Romero with several stiff shots that had the Cuban backed up against the cage and just holding up his hands in an attempt to fend off the strikes. To his credit, Romero did finally explode late in the third round to get Nemkov's attention, although he did still didn't do much of anything to turn the tables in his favor.
Romero also tried to goad Nemkov into a wild exchange as he pretended that he got wobbled or hurt, but Romero could never get the champ to bite.
Even in the rare moments when Romero got a little busier, Nemkov didn't treat him as much of a threat as he continued poking at him with jabs and unleashing a powerful right hand that kept finding a home. By the end of the fourth round, Romero's right eye was nearly closed from the repeated blows he absorbed courtesy of Nemkov.
While Romero did manage a late takedown, it was too little, too late, as Nemkov earned a comfortable win after five rounds.
Nemkov has now defended his Bellator light heavyweight title four times, which extends the record he already held for the promotion, and he remains one of the most dominant athletes on the entire roster. The only problem Nemkov may face at this moment is finding proper competition to challenge him after already dispatching all of the top contenders at 205 pounds in Bellator.
Vadim Nemkov outstrikes lethargic Yoel Romero to retain title at Bellator 297 originally appeared on NBC Sports
