When Ryan Bader suffered a submission loss to Tito Ortiz – then on a five-year losing streak – one would have assumed that the former TUF champion had officially hit his ceiling as a fighter.
That was far from the actual case.
Bader has since complied an 8-2 record in the light-heavyweight division, including a five-fight win streak dating back to December, 2013. He holds wins over the likes of Quinton Jackson, Ovince Saint Preux, Phil Davis and Rashad Evans. Yet despite his spectacular showings over the past year, he remains in a difficult spot at 205 pounds with the impending return of former champion Jon Jones.
Given that the UFC would likely be interested in setting up a title fight rematch between Daniel Cormier and Jones to determine the undisputed champion, Bader will likely have to wait his turn or take another fight in the meantime. However, despite recent headlines, he is not interested in a match-up against Anthony Johnson.
“The whole thing with that, you know, some media ran with that,” Bader told Sumission Radio. “He just tweeted something about ‘I never said anything about Bader or whatever, but I will take the fight.’ You know for me, I’m looking at fights that make sense right now. He had his shot. Let me get my shot. Gustafsson just had his shot. Who’s in front of me?”
According to Bader, his five-fight win streak should be enough to warrant him a title shot against either Cormier or Jones. It would be counter-productive for him to take a step backwards.
“I have a five-fight winning streak right now – the longest one in the UFC in their Light heavyweight [division] by far. So for me, these guys all got to get there shot, and you’re going to keep on recycling them? So I think I deserve it enough to go out there and fight Cormier. Why would I just take the fights just to take a fight?
However, when asked whether he truly wanted to sit out for foreseeable future, Bader appeared conflicted.
“Title shots don’t grow on trees, you know? So if you’re offered one, you gotta take that for sure. I don’t want to sit there and be baited into a fight that doesn’t make sense, just to fight. My ultimate goal is to go out there and win that title. It all depends, there’s too many hypotheticals out there. You know, what if, what if? Who knows what happens? We’ll cross that road when Jon Jones’ situation is given out to the public [in regards to] what’s happening. But as of right now, my mindset is, I’m fighting Daniel Cormier until we hear what happens with Jones. So I don’t know. That’s my mindset right now.”
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