Ryan Bader’s Coach: Maybe The UFC Doesn’t Want Him As Champion
Ever since he beat Rashad Evans at UFC 192, Ryan Bader has demanded a fight with UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier. However, the UFC has not came out and said that he’s the next challenger. Instead, Anthony Johnson has been thrown out and heavily speculated to be his next fight. Johnson has even gone on record by saying that he wants a fight with Bader.
Bader (20-4) is currently on a five-fight winning streak. In his last six bouts, he’s 5-1. Bader has stated in previous interviews that due to his five-fight win streak, he should get a title shot and not have to fight against someone else.
Bader’s longtime coach, Aaron Simpson, stated in a recent interview that he doesn’t understand why the UFC have not given Bader a title shot.
“He hasn’t gotten hurt; he hasn’t hardly gotten touched,” he told MMAjunkie. “The only thing that got hurt was him punching Anthony Perosh and breaking his hand. In five fights, he hasn’t gotten touched, and if you can’t find that to be impressive as a real fan, I don’t know. That’s like a team going unscored on.”
“I don’t know why we’re talking about Anthony Johnson,” he said. “Anthony’s a great fighter. He’s got one win so far. He’s on a one-fight win streak. Bader’s on a five-fight win streak. Anthony’s a great fighter; he’s a pretty good dude. I know he’s had some issues in the past with his life, but he’s out calling Bader out, and the UFC’s even wanting Bader to fight him. But we were told – Bader talked to Dana White, and Dana said, ‘If you beat Rashad Evans, nobody can deny you the next title shot.’ Well, why are we talking about Anthony Johnson?”
Simpson ended the interview by saying that there’s no reason for this fight not to take place. Bader is the number one contender, and there is even bad blood between Daniel Cormier and Bader that would sell people to buy the pay-per-view event that they would fight at.
“Bader doesn’t like him, and when we get a chance to fight him, we’re going to beat Daniel, and maybe the UFC doesn’t want Bader as the champ.”
Cormier has stated that he doesn’t plan to fight in 2015, so if this fight is going to take place, then it would be in 2016.
