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(Exclusive) Tim Johnson Ready to "Roll the Dice" in Unexpected Vadim Nemkov PFL Fight

The UFC and Bellator veteran was "hauling cattle" when he got the call to fight Nemkov.
Drew Beaupre|
(PFL MMA)

Set take on former Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion Vadim Nemkov in a short-notice co-main event at PFL Road to Dubai Champions Series, Tim Johnson spoke with MMA KO’s Drew Beaupré ahead of the fight to discuss everything from the end of Bellator MMA to what he was doing when he got the call to face Nemkov.

"Let's Roll The Dice, See What Happens"


PFL Road to Dubai Champions Series was originally supposed to feature Nemkov vs. Ante Delija before Delija withdrew and the promotion announced that the Russian would face Corey Anderson in a trilogy bout. It looked like Nemkov might not fight on the card at all when that bout also fell through, but then Johnson answered the call on just a few weeks’ notice.

(Exclusive) Vadim Nemkov Talks Road to Dubai, End of Bellator MMA, & Future with PFL

“It was definitely out of the blue, I’ll say that,” Johnson explained. “I was talking to my agent, and I was talking to him about the tournament and when they’re gonna start signing guys, what’s going on with that. I talked to Ray [Sefo] and a couple of PFL guys – my showing last year, they said I did enough to kind of make it to the season next year, just actually being prepared. And then he was talking, and I don’t know what was on the inside track or what was going on with negotiations with Corey and Nemkov and all of that, but he kind of say ‘Hey, Nemkov might be on the table. Would you be okay with that?’ And I’m like ‘Well, I guess so.’ And then a couple days later he’s like ‘Yeah, that’s off the table.’…I was doing my thing, trucking, hauling cattle across North Dakota. If I ain’t got a guaranteed fight, I’ve gotta make sure I get the bills paid and the family fed. And I wasn’t on any long-term contract, so working full time is part of my life. And he called, and is like ‘Hey, you still down for that Nemkov fight?’ I’m like ‘All right, whatever. Sounds good.’ I’m not in a position to be picking and choosing, so yeah, let’s roll the dice, see what happens.”

"The Rewards Way Outweigh The Risk Factor"

Taking a short-notice fight against someone as credentialed as Nemkov is never ideal, but while there’s no way to make up for the lack of a full training camp Johnson knows that this was an opportunity that he couldn’t pass up.

“A lot of preparation’s more mental that physical when these short-notice ones come along. I’m not gonna be able to implement certain portions of my game, just because of a short fight camp. Which is fine, I’ve been in this game a long time, I've had a lot of fights. It’s a risk, risk vs. reward type of thought process. The rewards way outweigh the risk factor of this. Fighting a guy like Nemkov on two weeks’ notice, that’s a win-win. You’ve just gotta go out there and make sure you don’t look stupid and f***ing try to lay a nice fist right on his jaw there, and have a little bit of a good old-fashioned tussle.”

Johnson has actually already shared the cage with two of Nemkov’s teammates in the legendary Fedor Emelianenko and Valentin Moldavsky, and while he’s eager to get a win over the camp he also revealed that he spent some time with the team in Russia after fighting Emelianenko at Bellator 269.

“He’s a light heavyweight who walks around at 230 his whole career, he’s a big guy. So he’s gonna be quicker, he’s gonna be lighter on his feet, there’s no sense sugarcoating that. He’s a light on his feet guy, and I’m a person who plods forward and tries to get inside. And another advantage I think would be, this’ll be the third guy from team Fedor that I’ve fought, and they’re 2-0 against me. They know it’s short notice, they know lung capacity-wise I might not be able to do things I wanna do, so they probably aren’t taking me as serious as they maybe should, or maybe would have. But, I have nothing but respect for Nemkov and his team and everything. I went over there to Russia, and I actually – after the fight with Fedor, was hanging out with him for a good portion of the night. Nemkov’s wife actually gifted me and my wife a set of handmade soap that she makes. Me and Russians got some sort of a connection, I don’t know what it is, but I’m gonna try to flip it around though, because I think my record against Russians is like 1-5.”

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“I Developed Into A True Fighter In Bellator”

His last two fights were under the PFL banner last year, but Johnson had a very successful nine-fight run with Bellator following his exit from the UFC in 2018. Like many veterans of Bellator, the 39-year-old is sad to see the end of an organization that was the world’s clear #2 MMA promotion for a lengthy period of time.

“I left UFC with a positive record...Bellator signed me, and I had a couple bad losses right off the bat. And then I was able to turn myself around a little bit, and they gave me multiple opportunities, win or lose, throughout my career, that I would have never gotten anywhere else. They really allowed me to rebrand myself and kind of prove to myself and certain people that I’m not just some guy – some wrestler that goes out and tries to lay on top of people and grind out. I developed into a true fighter in Bellator, would be the way I’d put it. A lot of people on the internals there cared about you, they wanted the best for you, and that was kinda nice to feel a lot of people rooting for you...There’s only a few places that you can go as an MMA athlete in the world, so any time any organization shuts its doors its bad for the whole sport. Not as many people get as many opportunities, and there’s a lot of good fighters out there that are looking for a shot.”

"Don’t Be Shocked If You’re Shocked”

Johnson is excited by the prospect of future opportunities with the PFL even though the promotional brass made the decision to end the Bellator MMA brand, and while he’s already set to compete on a huge Road to Dubai card he ultimately hopes that taking this short-notice fight leads to a spot in the 2025 PFL heavyweight tournament.

“They’re presenting me with some opportunities, and then my job is to try and capitalize on those opportunities. So moving forward, kind of did a verbal thing, hopefully this ain’t just a one-off on two weeks’ notice. But yeah, I’m excited for things, I like the new tournament format. I like the one and done. The regular season, it was interesting, it was a cool concept. I mean, it got me to the playoffs."

(Exclusive) Usman Nurmagomedov on Paul Hughes & PFL Road to Dubai Champions Series

“[The tournament] was the end game, that’s what I was talking with my agent with from the get go. I think tournament style is kind of more my personality, more my style in general. On top of that, I think the first fights start in April sometime, so after this fight, ten days after I get back from this fight I can go off to a three-week army military school, so I’ll be doing PT everyday, eating right, and then right from that right into a fight camp. This is the first time in probably three, four years that I can really be in probably the best shape that I’ve been in, in like three or four years, which would be a great thing. Not to cheat myself on this last kind of hoorahs that I have on my career here, give it a couple good, really good tries...“Don’t be shocked if you’re shocked [on January 25)."

Nemkov vs. Johnson will serve as the co-main event of a stacked PFL Road to Dubai Champions Series card on January 25, and in the night's headlining bout Paul Hughes challenges undefeated Bellator Lightweight Champion Usman Nurmagomedov.

(Credit: PFL MMA, Produced and Directed by Lisa Mongelli, Director of Photography: Carl Quinn, Editor: Ian Lasater, PR: Gaby Orlando)

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Drew Beaupre
DREW BEAUPRE

Drew is an MMA writer that regularly watches regional events in addition to major promotions such as the UFC, PFL, Bellator, and ONE Championship. He joined MMA Knockout when it was founded in 2023.

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