Valentin Moldavsky vs Timothy Johnson: An interesting fight to watch

On the night of June 26, Valentin Moldovsky is very likely to win another Bellator Championship Belt for the Fedor Team.

Valentin Moldovsky vs Timothy Johnson will be the fight for the interim heavyweight belt. Ryan Bader, the current belt holder, is still busy fighting in the Bantamweight Grand Prix.

Valentin Moldovsky: clearly the favorite

Moldavsky trains with Fedor Emelianenko's team in Stary Oskol and has been in Bellator since 2017 and hasn't suffered a single defeat in the league yet. In his professional career, he has only one unsuccessful fight - in December 2016 he lost by split decision to Amir Aliakbari at the RIZIN 4 tournament.

Although Fedor expects that the fight with Johnson Valentin will have a knockout punch (he trains it hard), but it is hard to believe it. It's more likely that the fight will take place predominantly on the ground, where Moldavsky has the advantage in skills and stamina. He is able to draw his opponent into deep waters, beat him there, and maybe even finish the fight before the end (of course, that's not certain). But what is certain is that he is the favorite, and his bigger size will hardly help the American.

From the fighters I fought, Johnson is more like Roy Nelson, only taller and younger. He's got better conditioning than Roy. People with a lot of weight and a good punch are always dangerous. But I think I can handle it - Valentin Moldovsky

Timothy Johnson: believes in his victory, but not a quick one

Timothy Johnson is a true MMA veteran who has seen a lot of wars in the cage. From 2015 to 2018 he fought in UFC, where he had wins and losses (by the way, he won in the first round by TKO against Shamil Abdurakhimov). In 2018, Johnson left the world's strongest league and moved to Bellator, where he was not doing well at first either (two losses in the first round, both by TKO, both by Vitali Minakov and Cheick Kongo).

I haven't fought many fighters whose style is similar to mine. Moldavsky likes to do take-downs and is comfortable in the clinch. The defining moment in our fight will be which of us ends up with our backs to the net and whether he can turn around. Most likely, the judges will decide the outcome of the fight. I have early wins, but I'm not known as a knockout fighter, and the same can be said of Moldavsky. It's a heavyweight fight, so anything can happen before you know it. Most likely, the fight will end with me winning in five rounds - Timothy Johnson

Prediction and betting on the fight

It seems that everything is clear here. Moldavsky needs to avoid getting hit at the beginning of the fight and carefully move the fight in his favor.

Бookmakers offer good odds for the victory of Valentin on points - 1.34.