Vadim Nemkov is the Bellator MMA light heavyweight tournament favorite, according to Scott Coker, but the most anticipated bout will be in the first round

• Bellator MMA restarted its live event business on April 2 and continues with another show on April 9.
• On Friday, the company's highly-anticipated light heavyweight tournament begins.
• Bellator boss Scott Coker went through the bracket with Insider correspondent Alan Dawson.

Vadim Nemkov is the Bellator MMA light heavyweight tournament favorite, according to the Hollywood-based MMA firm's president Scott Coker.

After a four-month hiatus, Bellator restarted its live events business on April 2 with a headline bout between Patricio "Pitbull" Freire and Emmanuel Sanchez.

Pitbull won the fight with a smash-and-grab first-round submission and advanced to the company's featherweight Grand Prix final against A.J. McKee, which Coker told Insider would take place in two to three months.

On Friday, another Grand Prix tournament gets underway as Coker put together an eight-man competition for the company's 205-pound competitors.

Though Coker regards Nemkov as the king until he's dethroned, he highlighted a competitive field that showcases much of his firm's top talent in the division.

These are the dates and matches for the four quarterfinals:

• Bellator 256: Ryan Bader vs. Lyoto Machida - April 9
• Bellator 257: Vadim Nemkov vs. Phil Davis - April 16
• Bellator 257: Corey Anderson vs. Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov - April 16
• Bellator 258: Anthony Johnson vs. Yoel Romero - May 7

A Bellator MMA light heavyweight tournament was a no-brainer for company execs

An influx of top-tier talent at the 205-pound weight class prompted decision-makers at Bellator to propose a change of plans to Showtime, its new broadcast partner in the US.

Originally, Bellator wanted to push a women's flyweight tournament. However, when they signed fighters like Anthony "Rumble" Johnson and Yoel Romero from the UFC, a light heavyweight bracket became the priority.

"What happened was, we had Ryan Bader, who was a champion at 205," Coker told us. "We had Machida. Then we signed Corey Anderson. Then we signed Rumble Johnson and Yoel Romero.

"Really, the thought was to do the 125-pound female tournament with Liz Carmouche, Ilima-Lei MacFarlane, Juliana Velasquez - it would be our very first female tournament.

"But then we started signing all these killers at light heavyweight, and we thought that's it. We had Nemkov, a killer, and Phil Davis, a killer."

Coker then hailed his light heavyweight division as the best 205-pound weight class on the planet - superior even to the UFC's, which Jan Blachowicz currently dominates.

"So I said, 'This has to be our tournament, guys.' They all agreed, said it's a no-brainer. I called up Showtime because I knew we were making the jump to Showtime, and I said, 'There's been a change of plans. We want to head in this direction,' and they loved it.

"It's going to be an amazing light heavyweight tournament. It's got the old guard, the OG's, as I call them, and the young kid from Russia [Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov] who has had an intense record.

"I've seen him fight on film, but not in person, and I'm expecting him to be dangerous.

"And Nemkov, I'm telling you right now … until someone dethrones this kid, he's the best in the world."

Many storylines are developing, and the tournament hasn't even started

All four quarterfinals will be contested within the next month, with the first match taking place Friday.

Though it features the Bellator heavyweight champion in Bader, and a former UFC star Lyoto Machida, it is the May 7 quarterfinal between Johnson and Romero that has captivated the attention of fight fans.

The matchup pairs two former UFC studs in a fight that never materialized for the Las Vegas-based promotion, despite fan demand.

Johnson vs. Romero could have headlined a tournament final by itself, which begs the question of why it's taking place in the first round, not the last.

"I learned a lot from my first big tournament - the Strikeforce heavyweight tournament [in 2012]," Coker told us.

"We had Alistair Overeem, Fedor Emelianenko, Josh Barnett, Andrei Arlovski, Antonio Silva, [and Dan Cormier]. We had a great, eight-man tournament.

"And the thought process was to put Alistair and Fedor on opposite sides [of the bracket] because that's the fight people wanted to see at the time - and they'll eventually fight [in the final].

"But the problem was they never got down there, and they never fought for various reasons."

Coker was reminded of his disappointment in not being able to book Overeem vs. Emelianenko in the Strikeforce heavyweight Grand Prix when he was creating the Bellator light heavyweight bracket.

"The thought process here was to do it backward. You take the fight that people want to see and make that first.

"If they got down to the finals, they'd have to fight each other anyway. You're going to have to fight him sooner or later. So why not do it first when it matters the most, and then you have tremendous interest, eyeballs, the launch with Showtime - a new genesis for Bellator MMA.

"If you put them on opposite ends of the bracket and somebody gets hurt, injured, somebody loses, you have to wait a year to put the fight together.

"People are really excited about that match-up, and I learned a lot from the first time around with the Strikeforce tournament."

Bader's inclusion in the tournament is a personal one

-BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) April 6, 2021

Coker told us Bader has "a personal vendetta" to settle after losing Bellator's light heavyweight title to Nemkov in August 2020.

He lauded the American fighter as "one of the best" he's ever seen, who possesses "a complete game."

Coker said: "We offered to move him up to heavyweight or stay at light heavyweight. But he said he wanted to get this guy because 'Nemkov is getting on my nerves. I need to fight this guy.'

"He wanted to stay there so he could fight Nemkov again and win this thing. He has a goal in mind: To beat Nemkov, knock him out or sub him, and win the tournament. He entered the tournament because he has a personal vendetta."

Standing in his way is Machida on April 9, and the winner of an April 16 match between Anderson and Yagshimuradov, before he can even get to Nemkov, who has his own gauntlet run of opponents to get through.

Coker, though, has high praise for Nemkov. "The way Nemkov dismantled Ryan … maybe Ryan had a bad night, I don't know. But any fighter who could do what he did to Ryan, the way he did it, it's a very big accomplishment.

"Ryan is no joke. But Nemkov was quicker, had good footwork, and when it came time to connect with the speed, he was there first. To me, that's where I see the difference.

"Ryan is a great wrestler. And he had a hard time taking him down and keeping him down. Nemkov has been training with Fedor Emelianenko - the greatest heavyweight of all time - that's Nemkov's mentor!"

Coker singled out Yagshimuradov as "the dark horse in the tournament" but said the favorite, on form, has to be Nemkov.

"He's young, fast, explosive, can kick, avoid takedowns, and can take you down. He's a complete fighter. He's the guy to beat, he's the guy, and he's our current champ. He's the king until he gets de-throned."