''Bellator 297: Nemkov vs. Romero'' was a

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

event produced by

Bellator MMA Bellator MMA (formerly Bellator Fighting Championships) is an American mixed martial arts promotion (entertainment), promotion founded in 2008 and based in Santa Monica, California, owned and operated as a subsidiary of television and media cong ...

that took place on June 16, 2023, at the

Wintrust Arena Wintrust Arena at McCormick Square, previously referred to as DePaul Arena or McCormick Place Events Center, is a 10,387-seat sports venue in the Near South Side community area of Chicago that opened in 2017. It is the current home court for ...

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, United States.

Background

The event marked the promotion's fifth visit to Chicago and first since

Bellator 288 ''Bellator 288: Nemkov vs. Anderson 2'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by Bellator MMA that took place on November 18, 2022, at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Background The event was headlined by a rematch in ...

in November 2022. A Bellator Light Heavyweight Championship bout between current champion

Vadim Nemkov Vadim Aleksandrovich Nemkov (russian: Вадим Александрович Немков; born 20 June 1992) is a Russian people, Russian professional mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist and a four-time Sambo (martial art), Combat Sambo Worl ...

and

Yoel Romero Yoel Romero Palacio (born April 30, 1977) is a Cuban professional mixed martial artist and former freestyle wrestler. He currently competes in the Light Heavyweight division for Bellator MMA. Romero formerly competed in the Middleweight division ...

headlined the event. They were previously expected to meet at

Bellator 290 ''Bellator 290: Bader vs. Fedor 2'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by Bellator MMA that took place on February 4, 2023, at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, United States. The card aired live on CBS and Paramount Plus, the first ti ...

but Nemkov withdrew due to undisclosed reasons. For the co-main event, a Bellator Bantamweight Championship bout between current champion

Sergio Pettis Sergio Jerome Pettis (born August 18, 1993) is an American mixed martial artist who is currently signed with Bellator MMA, where he is the current Bellator Bantamweight Champion. Prior to signing with Bellator, Pettis competed in the Ultimate Fig ...

and the current Bellator Featherweight Champion

Patrício Pitbull Patrício Freire (born July 7, 1987, in Natal, Brazil), known professionally by his ring name Patrício Pitbull, is a Brazilian mixed martial artist currently competing in Bellator MMA where he is the current three-time Bellator Featherweight Ch ...

(also former Bellator Lightweight Champion) took place. This was the third time in Bellator history that champions in different divisions fought for the same title, following Bellator 206 and Bellator 221 (the latter event in which Pitbull defeated

Michael Chandler Michael Chandler (born April 24, 1986) is an American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Lightweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional competitor since 2009, Chandler first gained n ...

to become the simultaneous featherweight and lightweight champion). If successful, Pitbull would have become the first man to become a three division champion in a major MMA organization, the first man to become champion in two divisions simultaneously twice, and that his win would have mark the fourth time overall where a fighter has won a title in different divisions (after Joe Warren at

Bellator 128 2014 in Bellator MMA was the tenth season for Bellator MMA, a mixed martial arts promotion. It began on February 28, 2014 and aired on Spike TV. The season included tournaments for the Heavyweight, Welterweight, Featherweight, Light Heavyweigh ...

, Ryan Bader at Bellator 214, and Pitbull at Bellator 221). Meanwhile, Pitbull also became the first challenger in a Bellator champion vs. champion bout to drop a division. A welterweight bout between

Bobby Nash Robert Nash (born March 26, 1990) is an American mixed martial artist currently competing in the Welterweight division of Bellator MMA. A professional competitor since 2010, he has formerly competed for the UFC and RFA. Background Born and ra ...

and Roman Faraldo was scheduled for this event. In the beginning of May, it was announced that Faraldo had pulled out of the bout and replaced by

Kyle Crutchmer Kyle Crutchmer (born May 5, 1993) is an American professional mixed martial artist, freestyle wrestler and graduated collegiate wrestler. He currently competes in the welterweight division of Bellator MMA. As a folkstyle wrestler, he was a tw ...

. A middleweight bout between

Austin Vanderford Austin Vanderford (born March 21, 1990) is an American professional mixed martial artist, currently signed to Bellator MMA where he competes in the Middleweight division. As of February 7, 2023, he is #6 in the Bellator Middleweight Rankings. ...

and Imamshafi Aliev and a bantamweight bout between

Leandro Higo Leandro Higo (born January 19, 1989) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who competes in the Bantamweight division of Bellator MMA. A professional competitor since 2006, he has also competed for Resurrection Fighting Alliance and Legacy Fighting A ...

and Nikita Mikhailov were scheduled for this event. However, both bouts were scrapped due to unknown reasons for the middleweight bout and illness for Mikhailov for the bantamweight one.

Results

References

{{2023 in mixed martial arts Bellator MMA events 2023 in mixed martial arts Events at Wintrust Arena June 2023 sports events in the United States 2023 in sports in Illinois Mixed martial arts in Illinois Sports competitions in Illinois 2023 in Chicago

Background

Results

See also

References