Bellator 268 results: Vadim Nemkov demolishes Julius Anglickas to defend title, meets Corey Anderson in tourney final

Vadim Nemkov’s reign of dominance in Bellator continues.

The reigning Bellator light heavyweight champion demolished replacement challenger Julius Anglickas to successfully defend his belt with a fourth-round kimura submission Saturday night in the main event of Bellator 268, which took place in the Footprint Center in Phoenix.

After being stunned early in the opening round with an Anglickas punch, Nemkov came alive, and the rest of the fight quickly turned into one-way traffic.

Nemkov (15-2) really seized momentum in Round 2, when he tripped Anglickas (10-2) to the floor and then went to work with big punches and elbows from top position, including one particularly nasty elbow that sliced Anglickas open and sent blood pouring all over the canvas. Nemkov used a blast double-leg to put Anglickas back onto the canvas in the opening seconds of Round 3 and nearly secured two different armbars, but Anglickas again survived to the horn.

Nemkov’s double-leg takedown again greeted Anglickas at the beginning of Round 4, and this time, the Russian champion finished the job, working to side control, trapping his foe’s right hand while blasting him with punches, then wresting control of the fight-ending submission.

“He caught me, but I wasn’t knocked down,” Nemkov said through a translator. “I just kind of fell. The reason I went more to grappling was he has a hard head. I hit him with a few good shots and realized it wasn’t going to happen, so I went with the submission.”

Nemkov remains undefeated in Bellator with a 7-0 record and has won nine consecutive fights in his current streak.

Next up for Nemkov will be the only other man still standing in the bracket, Corey Anderson, who made a thunderous statement with a 51-second knockout of Ryan Bader in the night’s co-main event. Anderson (16-5) blasted Bader (28-7) with a nasty overhand right behind the ear, then pounded out the Arizona product with a quickness to extend his perfect Bellator record to 3-0 and advance into the finals of the light heavyweight grand prix.

After finishing just three of his 10 victories in the UFC, Anderson has now notched KO/TKO stoppages in all three of his bouts under the Bellator umbrella.

Elsewhere on the night, former Bellator lightweight champion Brent Primus likely cemented himself as the next No. 1 contender for the belt with a unanimous decision win (29-28, 30-27, 30-27) over former UFC titleholder Benson Henderson.

Primus’ grappling was the story of the fight as he spent long stretches of each round working for submissions on the endlessly flexible Henderson (28-11). Henderson defended valiantly and even swung the action back into his favor with a slick left hand that dropped Primus (11-2) in the opening stages of Round 3, however Primus popped right back up and went right back to work on a single-leg takedown, which he eventually used to take Henderson’s back, flatten him out, and hunt for a rear-naked choke for the rest of the round.

With the win, Primus puts himself in pole position to challenge the winner of Bellator 270’s vacant title fight — Patricky Freire vs. Peter Queally — for the 155-pound belt next.

Meanwhile, the result puts Henderson onto the first three-fight skid of his career.

“I’ve bought so many pay-per-views to watch that guy fight,” Primus said. “He’s a legend.”

In the opening bout of the main card, local product Henry Corrales (19-6) put on an electric show in his return to the featherweight division, sweeping the judges’ scorecards to win a back-and-forth brawl over Vladyslav Parubchenko (16-3) via unanimous 30-27 scores.

Corrales fended off Parubchenko’s takedowns and was active on the counter, consistently blasting his Ukrainian foe with heavy hooks in the pocket. Corrales’ best moments came in the third round, when he rocked Parubchenko several times and even dropped him with a hard left hook, however Parubchenko ultimately survived to hear the final horn.

Corrales has now rebounded to win two of his last three fights in Bellator after dropping back-to-back outings to Darrion Caldwell and Juan Archuleta in 2019-20.

Complete Bellator 268 results can be seen below.

Main Card

• Vadim Nemkov def. Julius Anglickus via submission (kimura) - Round 4, 4:25
• Corey Anderson def. Ryan Bader via TKO (strikes) - Round 1, 0:51
• Brent Primus def. Benson Henderson via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
• Henry Corrales def. Vladyslav Parubchenko via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Preliminary Card

• Karl Albrektsson def. Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Mukhamed Berkhamov def. Jaleel Willis via submission (guillotine choke) - Round 1, 4:05
• Nick Browne def. Bobby Lee via submission (heel hook) - Round 1, 1:38
• Javier Torres def. Gregory Milliard via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
• Sumiko Inaba def. Randi Field via submission (arm-triangle choke) - Round 2, 2:02
• Lance Gibson Jr. def. Raymond Pina via TKO (strikes) - Round 2, 1:44
• Jaylon Bates def. Raphael Montini via submission (armbar) - Round 1, 3:49
• Sullivan Cauley def. Deon Clash via TKO (strikes) Round 1, 4:59
• Maria Henderson def. Collette Santiago via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 1, 0:40 | (Watch finish)