This Saturday, Ryan Bader faces off with Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson in what is likely to be a number one contenders bout. With genuine talent, and a solid record, it’s odd to see that Bader has been largely dismissed by MMA fans.
To find out why, today we look at Ryan Bader, the man Light Heavyweight forgot.
Five years ago, Ryan Bader was an up and comer on the rise. A strong wrestler with big right hand, Bader had the ability to be a real talent in the UFC. Yet a failure to capture the fans imagination and some untimely losses have derailed the 205lbs mans momentum.
First coming to the masses attention via The Ultimate Fighter 8, Bader won the competition as a member of Team Nogueira. A wrestler from Arizona State University with knockout power, Bader dealt with the competition with relative ease, beating Vinny Magalhães in the final via TKO in the first round.
From there Bader went on a four fight win streak, which climaxed with a dominant decision victory over Antônio Rogério Nogueira. It was the Nogueira fight that put Bader in the spotlight as a real talent in the division, and at only 27, it appeared he was set to be a perpetual title contender in the UFC Light Heavyweight division.
Then it all got derailed.
As Bader made his own path through the Light Heavyweight division, there was another young man showing promise. At UFC 126, Bader met (and lost) to Jon Jones.
By itself, the loss is forgivable. Jones, arguably the best fighter ever seen in the sport, went on to win the title to defeat every Light Heavyweight put against him. The first defeat of his career, Bader had a quick turnaround with what was supposed to be a rebound fight against UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz.
Had Ortiz lost, it would have been five years and six fights without a victory, and he would have been cut from the UFC. The odds had Bader as heavy favourite, showing -455 to Ortiz’s +280.
Bader lost, via first round guillotine, and while the fight gave the legendary Ortiz a fairytale victory, Bader changed overnight from a young talent with gold in his future to ‘the man who lost to Tito Ortiz.’
“That’s what hurts the most,” Bader said in a post-fight interview that night. “Is you put in all the work and it’s done like that. I just gotta get back at it and do it again.
“It sucks…but at the same time I have two losses now. It kinda sucks, messes up your head a little bit. Do you go back to the more rudimentary fighter that you were or do you keep expanding your tools and everything like I have been? It sucks to look back and see I’ve got two losses now.”
And it’s those two losses alone, in a career of 24 fights, that seemingly have harmed Bader’s career beyond repair. Already a grinding wrestler (traditionally a fighting style that isn’t widely enamoured amongst fans), Bader was always going to be struggling uphill to gain interest in his fights. Since those two fights, he’s not only no hot commodity, he’s flooding the market with no takers.
It must be said that his garnering lukewarm responses can be blamed on misplaced perception. After beating Quinton Jackson in Japan, Bader was given a chance to break into the upper echelon of the division with a fight against Lyoto Machida, one in which he was soundly beaten. A story that repeated itself when he faced Glover Teixeira.
Yet, there is perhaps hope on the horizon. Since the loss to Teixeira, Bader has (slowly but surely) started to gain traction. The engine may have stalled, but the wheels are beginning to turn.
Five fights, five victories, five decisions.
Slow, perhaps. Unexciting, maybe. But victories over Ovince Saint Preux, Phil Davis and (most recently) former Light Heavyweight champion Rashad Evans do deserve attention. The UFC appears to agree.
Despite his angling for a fight against belt-holder Daniel Cormier being denied, Bader faces against number two ranked Anthony Johnson this Saturday. A victory would be the sixth in a row leave Bader as undeniably the right challenger to call on to face the winner of the Jon Jones – Daniel Cormier fight.
“People keep doubting me,” Bader said post-fight at UFC 192. “People keep calling me out, keep calling me the easiest fight in the division. I’m gonna keep just running through them.
“I decided I wanna be the champion, I wanna be the best in the sport. I have the right p
eople around me, all that together, it’s driving me and pushing me to be the best.”
Bader goes into the fight this weekend as the (deserved) slight underdog, but it’s a fight he can win. Cormier showed that Johnson can struggle with a smothering wrestler, and Bader certainly fits that description.
If Bader does win and is awarded the next title shot, then it would be the culmination of a long and tiring grind, much similar to his fights.
But there it is. Just like his fights, Bader doesn’t need to look flashy. He doesn’t need to win decisively. He just needs to win. And if he does, then perhaps it might just be time people started to remember the man Light Heavyweight forgot.
