Video: Ryan Bader Takes Ilir Latifi’s Soul With Crushing Knockout
UFC Hamburg transpired in the Barclaycard Arena last night (Saturday September 3, 2016). In the promotion’s fifth trip to Germany and the first to Hamburg, a host of well-known European prospects were on show. Most of the local favorites did very well indeed. Alexander Gustafsson bounced back from the first back-to-back losses of his career. The former title challenger shut out a game Jan Blachowicz over three rounds. The real story of the night came from Ryan Bader though.
After being squashed by Anthony Johnson in his last trip to the octagon, ‘Darth’ was in need of a big win. Following the devastation ‘Rumble’ had bestowed on Bader, the Ultimate Fighter 8 winner was not faced with an easy task. Taking on surging knockout artist/wrestler Ilir Latifi on European soil must have been a daunting task.
Career Defining Knockout
Not only did he pull it out the bag, but Ryan Bader did it with a stunning knockout in the second round.’Darth’ hadn’t scored a finish in the UFC octagon since 2011 against Jason Brilz. What a time to do it, and in such brutal fashion too. Here’s the footage of Bader’s nasty knockout against ‘Rocky’ in Hamburg:
What a finish! @ryanbader knocks out @Latifimma with a huge right knee!🙌 #UFCHamburg https://t.co/hnyDSqOzEL
— UFC on TNT Sports (@ufcontnt) September 3, 2016
https://twitter.com/mmagunlugu/status/772163268567793665
What’s Next?
That’s an interesting question to ask right now. The UFC light-heavyweight division is a complicated picture at the championship end. With Anthony Johnson, Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier making a bit of a jam, there could be room for a pretty decent fight with Latifi’s team-mate. Yep, Alexander Gustafsson vs. Ryan Bader has a pretty nice ring to it.
There’s now a rivalry to base that fight on too, given the friendship between training partners Gus and ‘Rocky.’ Also the rankings, for what they are even worth these days, would add up in that fight. Have we seen the new version of Ryan Bader put on trial in Germany?
