Ryan Bader mötte senast Rashad Evans under UFC 192 och segrade då via enhälligt domslut och efter vinsten blev han snabbt utmanad utav Anthony Johnson, som sedan hävdade att Bader inte förtjänar en titelchans mot Daniel Cormier. Bader är dock inte intresserad av att möta Johnson och hans tränare anser att en titelchans är det han förtjänar efter 5 raka vinster.
Senast var det Alexander Gustafsson som fick möta Cormier, detta trots att han förlorade den tidigare matchen mot Johnson. Många blev då förvånade över detta, även Gustafsson själv.
Det här hade tränaren Aaron Simpson att säga om Bader, via MMAJunkie”:
He hasn’t gotten hurt; he hasn’t hardly gotten touched. The only thing that got hurt was him punching Anthony Perosh and braking 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.
Sedan Cormier segrade över Gustafsson och Bader segrad över Evan är planera oklara för vad som kommer hända i divisionen. Simpson ser dock ingen anledning till att Bader ska möta Johnson:
I don’t know why we’re talking about Anthony Johnson,. 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?
Cormier berättade nyligen att han kommer att ta en längre paus från sporten efter att ha gått tre stora matcher det senaste året. Nu väntar all på besked från UFC om vad som kommer att hända.
Det här hade Simpson att säga:
Right now, it should be Cormier and Bader, and until we know anything about Jones – and that’s a whole other issue of a guy that you want to try to promote that’s got his own issues to deal with – I mean, why are we talking about anything other than Bader vs. Cormier? It just kind of blows my mind. But it’s their business. It’s what they want to do.
Let’s see what we’re training for. Bader was here this morning, and (Cormier) is who we’re gunning for. I don’t understand the other way. I’m wondering if it doesn’t happen, if the fans will eventually go, why are we watching this sport? It’s not the true sport where you win and advance. Sometimes losing, in Gustafsson’s case, means advancing. I just don’t understand that. It cheapens it, in my opinion. So maybe they’ll right the ship a little bit and realize they need a true sport as opposed to just entertainment. Because we have that in the WWE.
I feel like with today’s youth, to have good role models and people that are humble, it’s an opportunity to promote someone like Ryan Bader, who does great things and who is a good man and a good husband (and) supports our military like crazy – given over $80,000 of his own purse to vets. I don’t understand how you can’t promote something like that. How you can say, that’s special, we’re going to promote this guy, we want this guy as our face – we don’t want somebody who’s going out and pulling the crap they’re pulling behind the scenes; an (engaged) man with kids getting in trouble. But once again, it’s not my business. It’s very successful, and that’s the way they want to run it.
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.
