‘Comfortable’ at Heavyweight, Bader Looks Forward to ‘Unfinished Business’ vs. Kongo

After being finished in two of his last three light heavyweight appearances, Ryan Bader had something to prove at Bellator 273.

The Arizona native delivered in front of the home folks, rallying for a gutsy five-round verdict over Valentin Moldavsky in a heavyweight title unification bout at the Footprint Center in Phoenix on Saturday night. It was a much-needed victory for Bader on the heels of a 51-second TKO defeat to Corey Anderson in the semifinals of the light heavyweight grand prix in the same venue this past October, but the former two-division champion believes people were burying him a little too soon.

“MMA is a weird, fickle sport,” Bader said at the Bellator 273 post-fight press conference. “They can look at your last fight, even though it’s big guys, small gloves, throwing at each other – the best in the world. You take one step back and people write you off. They don’t look at your body of work. It’s, ‘What have you done for me lately?’ I always knew I was going to feel good coming up at heavyweight. This is where I wanted to be. I saw those odds and was like, ‘Awesome. They’re counting me out. Now is the time to shut everybody up and keep this train rolling.’ Because I know I’m one of the best in the world and I can be on any given night.”

Going forward, the 38-year-old Bader expects to remain at heavyweight for the duration of his MMA career.

“I’m comfortable at this weight,” he said. I’m no longer going back-and-forth. I’m going to be even better coming in at heavyweight. Because I just fought at light heavyweight in October and then put on weight to fight in January. Now I’m a heavyweight. I can just actually get in my body.”

The former Arizona State University All-American wrestler didn’t have too wait long to get his next assignment. Moments after he vanquished Moldavsky, Bader faced off against Cheick Kongo in the cage for a rematch that will take place in Paris this May. Their first meeting — which also happened to be Bader’s first light heavyweight title defense — ended prematurely when Kongo was unable to continue due to an accidental eye poke in 2019.

“I always wanted to get that fight back,” Bader said. “And he was talking so much s—t from after I poked him in the eye. I’m like, ‘Dude, there’s video of you wincing, and it’s in your nose.’

“Then, again, he came up [tonight and said], ‘Nice fight, but I’m going to beat your ass in Paris,’ and all this bulls—t. So, yeah, I like that fight.”

It’s a matchup that was expected to take place earlier, but Bader’s run in the 205-pound grand prix took precedence. In the meantime, Kongo submitted Sergei Kharitonov in August to re-establish himself as a top heavyweight contender.

“I’ve been asking for that fight forever,” Bader said. “I wanted to run that back before I was going to light heavyweight, but now we get to do it.

“….I thought for sure it was going to be Fedor in Russia. But yeah, unfinished business.”