LIVE! Bellator 244 Virtual Media Day Q&A Updates

Bellator MMA

Fighters are scheduled to start chatting today (Weds., Aug. 19) at 1:30 p.m. ET from inside Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

Bellator 244: “Bader vs. Nemkov” takes place this weekend (Fri., Aug. 21, 2020) at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. In the main event, “champ-champ” Ryan Bader (27-5, 1 NC) puts his Light Heavyweight title on the line versus the fearsome Vadim Nemkov (11-2). Both fighters are scheduled to participate in what the promotion is calling a “Virtual Media Day” this afternoon (Weds., Aug. 19, 2020) starting at 1:30 p.m. ET. Expected participants include:

Vadim Nemkov (1:30 p.m.) – Bellator Light Heavyweight
Jessy Miele (1:45 p.m.) – Bellator Featherweight
Andrew Kapel (2:00 p.m.) – Bellator Middleweight
Valentine Moldavsky (2:15 p.m.) – Bellator Heavyweight
John Salter (2:30 p.m.) – Bellator Middleweight
Roy Nelson (2:45 p.m.) – Bellator Heavyweight
Julia Budd (3:00 p.m.) – Bellator Featherweight
Ryan Bader (3:15 p.m.) – Bellator Light Heavyweight/Heavyweight

Selected news and memorable quotes from the participants will be available below.

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Vadim Nemkov: “Bader is very much like Phil Davis, the same style in terms of wrestling. I had a game plan for him and I have a game plan for Bader on Friday.”

Nemkov: “I was very disappointed when Fedor lost (to Bader) but really this fight is for me. It’s for me to win, but this fight is also for him.”

Nemkov: “Combat Sambo and MMA are obviously different. Sambo is an amateur sport, here we are professionals. Sambo is a bracket system so you don’t know who you have to face next and you have to adapt. Here you know your opponent. The athletes are world class so it’s definitely tougher to do it in Bellator.”

Nemkov: “Some day we’ll all look back on this as a long nightmare but if wearing a mask helps to eradicate this virus I’ll do it. I’m not happy wearing it but I’ll do it.”

Nemkov: “I was concerned that Bader might want to defend his Heavyweight belt and not Light Heavyweight due to not wanting to cut weight during the pandemic. If Bader wasn’t ready or didn’t want to fight I was ready to take on anybody else. This is how I earn my living. If I don’t fight my family doesn’t eat.”

Nemkov: “There’s a first time for everything. This will be my first time going five rounds, but I’ve trained very hard, I’ve gone to high altitude, I’ve had multiple sparring partners so I always had someone fresh on me. We’ve also got a strategy to conserve energy but I’m ready for a full five rounds.”

Nemkov: “If I was offered a fight at Heavyweight versus Bader I would take it, but I have a teammate Valentin Moldavsky who is hopefully on his way to a title shot soon, so I’d rather yield that title shot to him.”

Nemkov: “I feel like between me and Ryan Bader we’ve beaten a lot of top competition. This fight should be viewed on a more global level of MMA and the winner should be consider No. 1 (in the world).”

Jessy Miele: “We didn’t even know if we were even going to be able to train, to touch during this pandemic, so I’m just gonna go in there and show what I’ve been training for since I ever started.”

Miele: “I gotta say, I think everyone, when we go into any fight we want a finish, get a win early and enjoy the rest of the night. I’ve got a good game plan going in so no matter what happens I’ll be ready for it.”

Miele: “I’ll fight whoever Bellator puts in front of me but if it’s a title shot I’ll be ready for it.”

Miele: “A lot of people see me as the underdog for every fight I go into. Better for me for the upset so people are like ‘Oh my God who is this and what happened?’”

Miele: “For me it’s mentally that I’m going into this fight a lot more confident in my game. I want to put on a show for everybody and get the job done. I have more appreciation for my mental game, not just who’s in better shape, (but) this time it’s a lot more strategizing.”

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Check out the complete Bellator 244: “Bader vs. Nemkov” card below:

• Light Heavyweight Main Event: Ryan Bader (27-5, 1 NC) vs. Vadim Nemkov (11-2)
• Featherweight Co-Main Event: Julia Budd (13-3) vs. Jessy Miele (9-3)
• Heavyweight Main Card Bout: Roy Nelson (23-19) vs. Valentin Moldavsky (9-1)
• Middleweight Prelims Bout: John Salter (17-4) vs. Andrew Kapel (15-6)
• Lightweight Prelims Bout: Adam Piccolotti (12-3) vs. Sidney Outlaw (14-4)
• Bantamweight Prelims Bout: Erik Perez (19-7) vs. Joshua Hill (19-3)
• Featherweight Prelims Bout: Lucas Brennan (2-0) vs. Will Smith (3-1)
• Lightweight Prelims Bout: Vladimir Tokov (7-0) vs. Chris Gonzalez (4-4)
• Lightweight Prelims Bout: Lance Gibson Jr. (3-0) vs. Shane Kruchten (12-5)

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