The Vadim Nemkov vs. Corey Anderson trilogy bout will not take place at the Professional Fighters League’s Road to Dubai event, as originally planned.
Following initial reports from MMAFighting.com, promotion officials confirmed the cancellation to Sherdog.com on Tuesday. PFL is looking for a new co-main event for this card. Nemkov was originally scheduled to face 2022 PFL Heavyweight Champion Ante Derija at Road to Dubai, but the 34-year-old Croatian withdrew from the bout.
Road to Dubai will be held at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai and appears to be a rebranded version of the Bellator Champions Series. In the main event, Usman Nurmagomedov defends the lightweight strap against Paul Hughes.
The reason for the cancellation was not disclosed, but Anderson recently took to social media to criticize Nemkov for pulling out of the fight.
“I woke up this morning to a text message from the PFL and Bellator saying, ‘Vadim refuses to fight you,'” Anderson said in an Instagram video. “Their words are literally, ‘You’re too much of a fight for him.’ That’s what he’s saying, but he wants to stay on the card and fight lesser opponents. Making this up. You can’t.
“How can you claim to be the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the organization and be afraid to fight someone you’ve already fought twice on seven weeks’ notice?”
Anderson and Nemkov first fought in the Bellator Grand Prix Finals in April 2022. Anderson appeared to be on his way to victory, but an accidental clash of heads resulted in the match being ruled a no-contest. Nemkov easily won the rematch, earning a five-round unanimous decision at Bellator 288 in November 2022. The third match between the two was scheduled to be fought at heavyweight.
Nemkov moved to heavyweight in his most recent bout, scoring a second-round submission victory over Bruno Capellozza in a PFL vs. Bellator bout in February of this year.
Anderson is 2-0 since losing to Nemkov. He defeated fellow UFC veteran Phil Davis by split decision at Bellator 297 and won the vacant Bellator light heavyweight title with a decision victory over Carl Moore on March 22nd at Bellator Champions Series Belfast.
