Bellator 244 Preview Show
Connor Northrup and John Eric Poli preview all four main event bouts scheduled for Bellator 244 today, Friday, Aug. 20.
The promotion’s third event since returning from a six-month layoff due to the COVID-19 pandemic featured a light heavyweight title fight between the champion Ryan Bader and challenger Vadim Nemkov. The preliminary bouts begin at 7:15 p.m. ET on the promotion’s Youtube channel. The main card follows at 10 p.m. ET on Paramount Network.
Middleweights John Salter and Andrew Kapel kick off the card in a potential No. 1 contender bout. Salter, an eight-time Bellator veteran is coming off two-straight wins against Costello van Steenis and Chidi Njokuani.
Kapel is coming off a first-round TKO against Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal at Bellator 233 this past November. Although he is 1-0 under the Bellator banner, Kapel is the winner of four consecutive bouts.
Heavyweights Valentin Moldavsky and Roy Nelson also clash on the main card. Unbeaten inside the Bellator cage with four-consecutive wins, Moldavsky takes on a former UFC contender in Nelson.
Nelson is looking for his first win since September 2017, losing four-straight fights.
The former Bellator women’s bantamweight champion Julia Budd takes on Jessy Miele in the co-main event. For the first time in four fights, Budd will not be fighting as champion.
She is coming off a fourth-round TKO to Cris “Cyborg” Justino at Bellator 238 back in January.
Miele shook up the division in her Bellator debut, earning a split-decision win against former challenger Talita Nogueira at Bellator 231 in October. Miele is riding a four-fight win streak.
In the event’s headliner, Bader defends the 205-pound title for the first time since 2017. Challenging for gold is the surging Nemkov.
Bader is coming off four-straight heavyweight fights, including his title win over Fedor Emelianenko in January 2019. Nemkov is unbeaten inside the Bellator cage in four appearances. He most recently submitted Rafael Carvalho
