Bellator 297 Nemkov vs Romero 2023-06-16

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Event
Bellator 297 Nemkov vs Romero

Date
Fri 16th June 2023 (UTC)
Fri 16th June 2023 (Local)

Timestamp
2023-06-16T22:00:00

Time

22:00:00 UTC

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League
Bellator

Season
2023

Round
8

Status

Location
Wintrust Arena

Video Highlights

Description

Bellator 297: Nemkov vs. Romero is a scheduled mixed martial arts event produced by Bellator MMA that will take place on June 16, 2023, at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Background
Following a triumphant event at Wintrust Arena during Bellator 292, the promotion is set to revisit the venue for Bellator 297 on June 16.

The main event showcases a Bellator Light Heavyweight World Championship bout between current champion Vadim Nemkov and Yoel Romero. They were previously expected to meet at Bellator 290 but Nemkov withdrew due to undisclosed reasons. Hence, the bout was scheduled for this event.

For the co-main event, a Bellator Bantamweight Championship bout between the current champion Sergio Pettis and the current Bellator Featherweight Champion Patrício Pitbull (also former Bellator Lightweight Champion) is scheduled to take place. This will be 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 to become the simultaneous featherweight and lightweight champion).

If successful, Pitbull will 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 will mark the fourth instance where a fighter has won a title in different divisions (after Joe Warren at Bellator 128, Ryan Bader at Bellator 214, and Pitbull at Bellator 221). Meanwhile, Pitbull will also become the first challenger in a Bellator champion vs. champion bout to drop a division.

A welterweight bout between Bobby Nash 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.