Ryan Bader knocked out Fedor Emelianenko at Bellator 214 to not only win the heavyweight grand prix tournament, but to become the heavyweight and light heavyweight champion at the same time, the first champ champ in Bellator history. Some of used this victory and tournament to suggest their longstanding view of Bader has been vindicated.
I’d offer that his run through the tourney and wins over King Mo, Matt Mitrione and Fedor force us to appreciate not merely the very best fighter in each weight class in the UFC, but the down roster talent that doesn’t always have an opportunity to show just how good they can be.
Bucket head is the best guitarist.
Bader is top 3 in the world at LHW in my opinion. Rumble is retired and anyone has seen recent pictures of him….we'll he's even too damn big for HW atm. So, rumble is no longer in the lhw equation. This leaves us with Jones, DC, Bader and Gus. If we take him for his word, DC also isn't in lhw anymore. One could argue Gus is better than Bader but they haven't fought. Personally, my money would be on Bader.
You're right though, popular fan opinions tend to view things with a screwed perception. MMA fans are unforgiving. A loss 6 years ago can haunt a fighters reputation permanently and Bader doesn't win himself any favors with his style of fighting which most fans find boring.
With the exception of JJ, all his losses came at the hands of fighters in their prime while Bader was still getting his feet wet. He was also kicking Glovers ass before he got caught.
This tournament wasn't that great but it had a lot of star power names and Bader still has to defend against Minokav or Kongo at HW if he decides to defend that belt. Tougher competition on the horizon in both divisions. Mousasi will likely move to fight him as well. Fun time to be a bellator fan. Especially with the WW tournament and all the young talent they are trying to build a brand with.
Is it me or are LHW's beating the shit out of HW's recently😕
Some fighters have the bad luck of coming up at the wrong time. Alot of fighters could have been champs if they wern't fighting at the same time and same division as future 🐐's💯
Bader vs Cormier make it happen. We know Lesnar is not going to fight
because most people have a 3 second attention span. there brains are not functional enough to be entertained by self analysis.