Bellator 297 has taken a pair of hits the week prior to the June 16 event at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. Former Bellator middleweight title challenger Austin Vanderford (11-2 MMA, 5-2 BMMA) was expected to face Imamshafi Aliev (9-0 MMA, 1-0 BMMA), but that fight has been canceled for undisclosed reasons. Additionally, the bantamweight bout between Leandro Higo (21-6 MMA, 4-4 BMMA) and Nikita Mikhailov (10-2 MMA, 3-1 BMMA) is off due to an illness with the former. The card is set to proceed with 16 bouts including a light heavyweight title fight in the main event, as champion Vadim Nemkov (16-2 MMA, 8-0 BMMA) tries to defend his title against former UFC title challenger Yoel Romero (9-4 MMA, 15-6 BMMA)