Ryan Bader Thinks Gustafsson Title Shot ‘Sucks’
In today’s mixed martial arts (MMA) landscape never has the phrase, “what have you done for me lately?” taken a more obscure and confusing meaning than recently.
The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) winner and perennial top 10 light heavyweight Ryan Bader is currently on a four-fight win streak that includes victories over top 15 fighters Phil Davis and Ovince Saint Preux. Once a fighter reaches the 3-5 fight win streak mark, their names begin to float into title shot discussion. While Bader’s last four fights haven’t been exactly captivating (he won all four by decision), no one can argue that he is currently one of the top dogs in the division and many believed he would undoubtedly get the next title shot.
Then something funny happened. Bader was passed over for the next title shot at new champion Daniel Cormier in favor of fan favorite Alexander Gustafsson, who is of course coming off a brutal TKO loss to recent title challenger, Anthony ”Rumble” Johnson at January’s UFC on FOX 14.
Ryan Bader recently appeared on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani to discuss the recent turn of events.
“Gus is a great fighter,” Bader said. “He’s awesome. But he just doesn’t deserve that shot right now coming off of a loss like that.”
Despite it being over a year-and-a-half ago, the war between Jon Jones and Gustafsson at UFC 165 is still fresh in everyone’s minds, as ‘The Mauler’ was the only man to make Jones look human. Aside from that accolade (if you can really call it that), there is no debating on paper who is more deserving of the next shot.
Bader continued to make valid points that further strengthened the sentiment that he should get the next shot.
“We were supposed to fight already,” Bader said. “I was good enough to fight him then. Why not now? That’s kind of how I’m looking at it. You never know, but my team and I definitely thought we had that. It’s disappointing, but I’m not gonna sit here and cry about it. I’m just gonna go out and do more.”
No one ever wants to be the odd man out, but with a potential fight versus Rashad Evans looming on the horizon this fall, Bader has the opportunity to completely solidify himself as the no. 1 contender.
At the end of the day, Bader understandably isn’t happy with how things have played out. The hard-nosed ‘Darth’ didn’t mince words with his assessment of the situation:
“I’m not gonna lie,” Bader said. “It sucks.”
With the UFC choosing Gustafsson instead of Bader, could we be slowly approaching an era of MMA where notoriety and appeal outweigh accomplishment?
Photo Credit: Jason Silva-USA TODAY Sports
