Ryan Bader: Nobody Else Is Qualified For That Title Shot
With four straight high-level wins, light heavyweight Ryan Bader was supposed to face his biggest challenge against Daniel Cormier in the main event of June 6’s UFC Fight Night 68 from New Orleans, Louisiana. Instead, he was yanked off the card when the promotion stripped champion Jon Jones, opening the door for “DC” to step into his second title shot of 2015 against Anthony “Rumble” Johnson at UFC 187.
“Darth” was left out in the cold when news broke last night that Dan Henderson vs. Tim Boetsch was the card’s new main event, and his immediate future as the No. 4-ranked contender currently remains unclear. Appearing on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Bader said he understands why the UFC booked “DC” in the UFC 187 main event. After that, he’s looking to fight the winner:
“”I get that the business decision as far as putting Daniel Cormier in. He just fought Jon Jones. He has the platform to sell the fight with all the stuff on FOX, and all that. The next best thing for us is to get that winner. Like I said, a four-fight win streak right now and nobody else is qualified for that title shot. They’ve all had their chances, and they’ve all lost. Pretty much all of them are coming off of losing streaks. I get that decision to put DC in, but we should be next.”
He was reportedly offered a bout with former opponent Glover Teixeira, whom he had on the ropes at UFC Fight Night 28 in August 2013 before the Brazilian slugger floored him when he got overaggressive. With Teixeira on a two-fight losing streak, “Darth” doesn’t think that fight makes too much sense for him right now, because it would potentially erase a contender in a division that is absolutely starved for them right now:
“It all depends. We’re interested in fighting for that title. Glover’s on a two fight losing streak and, like I said, he just lost to Phil Davis, and what the 205-pound division is in need of is contenders. If you’re going to knock one of us off…I plan on going out there and beating him if I’m fighting Glover, then he’s on a three-fight [losing] streak. So what happens with him down the road? I know he’s one of the top guys.”
But Bader doesn’t want anyone to think that he’s ducking a rematch with Teixeira, because he’s had a long streak of bouts lined up against top competition, only to see them fall apart at the last minute:
“We’ve always taken every single fight that was offered. We step up and fight the top names that nobody wants to fight. So if I hear people saying, ‘oh, you’re ducking this or ducking that,’ no I haven’t ducked anybody. I’ve had three fights that were supposed to be with the top three guys and for whatever reason, whether it was them or the UFC, they got pulled. We’ll see what happens.”
Bader emphasized that his ultimate goal is obviously to get a title shot, and he’s hoping that will be against either Cormier or Johnson. However, he’s not sure what’s going to happen, but all he can do at this point is wait it out:
“I’m in this sport to win a championship. And so, if we can go to the UFC, and talk to Joe Silva or Dana and say hey, we get the winner, then I’m going to fight the winner of AJ and DC. That’s a best-case scenario. We’ll see in the next couple of days what else, what else happens…if Glover’s still on the table or not.”
Photo Credit: Gregory J. Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
