Ryan Bader has made a big spash since moving from the UFC to Bellator, winning their light-heavyweight title and then being crowned their heavyweight champion too after winning their star-studded grand-prix this past weekend.
Now Bader has admitted that he’d like to lock horns with a former rival Daniel Cormier, who has also become a double-champion since Bader left the UFC.
“He’s one of those guys, he proves himself over and over again,” Bader said after Bellator 214 on Saturday night. “He’s a champ, in and out of the cage there, beating monsters. Nothing but respect from over here.
“It’d be fun to do a cross-promotion for the champ-champ-champ-champ, but we’ll see if that ever happens.”
Bader previously had a spat with Cormier during their time in the UFC, leading to the two exchanging words at a post-fight presser in which ‘DC’ called him, “the easiest fight in the division.”
However, Bader always had an impressive resume in the UFC, winning 8 of his last 10 fights there, including defeating the likes of Ovince Saint Preux, Antonio Rogerion Nogueira, Phil Davis and Rashad Evans.
Since moving to Bellator he’s added to that CV with wins against Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal, Phil Davis (again), Matt Mitrione and most recently Fedor Emelianenko.
As for Cormier, since Bader left he’s also continued to compile impressive victories in two divisions over the likes of Anthony Johnson, Volkan Oezdemir, Stipe Miocic and Derrick Lewis.
However, while a fight between Cormier and Bader now makes more sense than ever, the chances of a cross-promotional bout between them ever taking place seems exceptionally unlikely given the rivalry between the two organizations and the UFC’s history of refusing to entertain the idea of co-promoting MMA fights.
