A five-year veteran of Bellator’s middleweight division as well as a former champion with three successful title defenses under his belt, muay thai specialist Rafael Carvalho now prepares to move up a weight class for the first time in his 19-bout professional MMA career at Bellator 230.
Paired up against rising prospect Vadim Nemkov, a 27-year-old, three-time sambo World Champion, Carvalho tells that change in weight classes was mostly influenced by health and performance reasons, stating that his body just wouldn’t perform as well while cutting to 185 pounds.
“My performance was what influenced me in changing divisions.