Ryan Bader News

Chris Taylor - September 7, 2019

Ryan Bader puts his heavyweight title on the line against Cheick Kongo in the headliner of tonight’s Bellator 226 event in San Jose. Bader (27-5 MMA) captured the promotions vacant heavyweight title this past January at Bellator 214, defeating MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko by first round knockout.

Mike Heck - September 6, 2019

Cheick Kongo has won eight fights in a row heading into his heavyweight title opportunity  against Ryan Bader at Bellator 226, yet has stayed relatively under the radar. That certainly changed as the two headliners for Saturday night’s event went face-to-face for the final time. At the Bellator 226 ceremonial weigh-ins on Friday evening in San Jose, the champion and challenger stared each other down on stage and it looked pretty intense. Moments later, Kongo gave Bader a two-handed shove to the chest as shown in the video below, courtesy of Bellator MMA’s Twitter page.

Cole Shelton - September 6, 2019

In the main event of Bellator 226, Ryan Bader looks to defend his heavyweight title for the first time when he takes on Cheick Kongo. The champion is currently a -350 favorite at 5Dimes while the challenger is a +250 underdog. Ahead of this Bellator 226 fight, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their predictions for the scrap. This time around, the pros are unanimous as they all believe Ryan Bader will defend his belt against the 44-year-old Frenchman.

Cole Shelton - September 3, 2019

When Ryan Bader was in the UFC, Daniel Cormier called him the easiest fight in the light heavyweight division. Yet, a fight between the two never came to fruition and as “Darth” left in free agency for Bellator. Even though Ryan Bader is in Bellator, he still wants that fight and revealed he and his management reached out to the UFC for a cross-promotional fight with Cormier.

Cole Shelton - August 22, 2019

Bellator president, Scott Coker took a lot of flak for his recent tweet suggesting Ryan Bader is the best heavyweight in MMA right now. Most fans and analysts believe Stipe Miocic, who reclaimed the UFC’s heavyweight belt this past weekend in Anaheim, to be the current ‘baddest man on the planet’.

Tom Taylor - August 20, 2019

When Stipe Miocic stopped Daniel Cormier in the main event of UFC 241, he not only reclaimed the UFC heavyweight title, but also his reputation as the top heavyweight in mixed martial arts. At least, that’s the widespread opinion. Not everybody is convinced.

Tom Taylor - July 11, 2019

Ryan Bader, Bellator‘s resident two-division champ, is now set to defend his heavyweight strap. Bader, who also owns the light heavyweight title, will make this defense opposite fellow UFC veteran Cheick Kongo. The fight will go down at Bellator 226 on September 7 inside the SAP Center in San Jose, California. This card will also mark the beginning of Bellator’s anticipated featherweight Grand Prix.

Tom Taylor - May 27, 2019

For a brief period, it looked as though Daniel Cormier and Ryan Bader would meet in the UFC. Unfortunately, the matchup never materialized, and the two wrestling specialists went their separate ways. Today, both men are hovering at the pinnacle of the sport in different promotions. Bader currently holds the light heavyweight and heavyweight titles in Bellator. Cormier, meanwhile, briefly held the same titles in the UFC, though he relinquished the light heavyweight belt.

Tom Taylor - February 17, 2019

When Cheick Kongo handed former Bellator champ Vitaly Minakov his first loss on the main card of Bellator 216 on Saturday night, he earned himself a shot a reigning Bellator heavyweight champ Ryan Bader. He did not hesitate to call Bader out at the Bellator 216 post-fight press conference.

Tom Taylor - February 17, 2019

Cheick Kongo is now the number-one contender in the Bellator heavyweight division. The hulking Frenchman earned that honor with a workmanlike defeat of the formerly undefeated former champ Vitaly Minakov at Bellator 216 on Saturday night. Cheick Kongo has been chasing a Bellator heavyweight title shot for years, and can now look forward to a fight with reigning champion Ryan Bader. That said, he believes it would be more straightforward for Bader to just give him the belt — and he promises trouble if the champ doesn’t oblige.

Tom Taylor - February 11, 2019

Daniel Cormier recently became the first fighter in UFC history to wear the light heavyweight and heavyweight titles concurrently, first capturing the vacant belt with a defeat of Anthony Johnson, then thumping Stipe Miocic to capture the heavyweight belt. Ryan Bader recently accomplished the same feat under the Bellator banner, first defeating Phil Davis to win the light heavyweight belt, and then defeating Fedor Emelianenko to capture the vacant heavyweight belt.

Tom Taylor - January 29, 2019

Shortly after Ryan Bader became a two-division Bellator champion with a first-round knockout of heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko at Bellator 214, he was called out by former UFC light heavyweight champ Tito Ortiz. Speaking on Twitter, Ortiz announced his intention to fight Chael Sonnen in a ‘tune up fight,’ and then take the Bellator light heavyweight title from Bader.

Tom Taylor - January 28, 2019

Fedor Emelianenko had the chance to make history on Saturday night, as he battled Ryan Bader in a bid to become the Bellator heavyweight champion in the Bellator 214 main event. Unfortunately for the 42-year-old Russian MMA legend, however, things did not go as planned in this fight. Instead, he was knocked out in less than a minute. Speaking on Instagram late on Sunday, Fedor Emelianenko updated on his health in the wake of this loss.

Tom Taylor - January 27, 2019

Ryan Bader now owns the Bellator light heavyweight heavyweight titles. He earned the former with a defeat of Phil Davis last year, and the latter with a Saturday night, Bellator 214 knockout of Fedor Emelianenko. With two belts now wrapped round his waist, Ryan Bader has the option of ruling over two divisions if he so chooses. Drifting back and forth between two weight classes, of course, will not be easy.

Tom Taylor - January 27, 2019

Last night, in the main event of Bellator 214, Ryan Bader became Bellator’s first two-division champion by knocking out Fedor Emelianenko to capture the heavyweight strap. At present, it’s not known whether Bader will defend his heavyweight or light heavyweight belt first. Whatever the case, Chael Sonnen seems interested in being his first challenger. On Saturday night, shortly after Ryan Bader won the strap, Chael Sonnen called him out on Twitter — though he promptly deleted the Tweet.

Tom Taylor - January 27, 2019

Last night, in the main event of Bellator 214, light heavyweight champ Ryan Bader became Bellator’s first two-division titleholder, knocking out Fedor Emelianenko in less than a minute to capture the Bellator heavyweight title. Heading into this fight, Ryan Bader says he drilled the very punch he used to topple Emelianenko many times. He knew there would be an opening when the Russian legend engaged, and practiced extensively to make sure he’d be ready for it.

Chris Taylor - January 26, 2019

The Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix Final took place tonight in Los Angeles, as Fedor Emelianenko squared off with Ryan Bader at Bellator 214. The former PRIDE champion, Fedor Emelianenko, advanced to the tournament final by defeating Chael Sonnen via first-round TKO this past October in New York.

Tom Taylor - January 25, 2019

Tomorrow night, Bellator MMA will make it’s long-awaited return to our screens with the stacked Bellator 214 card. This card will be topped by the final bout of the promotion’s action-packed Heavyweight Grand Prix, as Bellator light heavyweight champ Ryan Bader and heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko are set to collide with heavyweight gold on the line.