Back in April, Bellator was all set to culminate the last act of a year long Grand Prix tournament. Eight of the promotion’s top light heavyweight talents faced off in a series of 5-round fights, with Vadim Nemkov’s world championship belt on the line all the way through.
Nemkov took out Phil Davis in the opening round, then scored a sub over Julius Anglickas (replacing Anthony Johnson) in the semis, to make it all the way to the finale. On the other side of the brackets, Corey Anderson took out Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov, and then Ryan Bader to secure a fight with the champ in the co-main event of Bellator 277.