Ryan Bader is well aware of the possibility of a chance at redemption against Lyoto Machida.
Back in Aug. 2012, Bader and Machida did battle under the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) banner. The bout ended in the second round when Bader walked right into a punch from Machida that shut his lights off. Fast forward to 2019 and both men are on the Bellator roster with Bader holding the promotion’s light heavyweight and heavyweight titles.
Bader Speaks On Possibly Facing Machida Again
MMAJunkie.com spoke to Bader, who expressed his desire to even the score with “The Dragon:”
“The Chael fight would’ve been fun for sure, but obviously he’s retired now. I wasn’t thinking about the Mousasi fight too much. I’ve been fighting at heavyweight and he’s two weight classes down. I have so many other things on my plate before we’d even think of that, so he wasn’t on my radar too much. He’s a great fighter but I had other stuff on my plate.
“Machida is definitely a fight I want. I want to get back that loss I had in 2012. That’s a great fight I’m looking forward too. There’s guy at 205 like Nemkov and whatnot. I have some fights. I have at least three fights lined up in my head.”
Bader is expected to defend his heavyweight title against Cheick Kongo sometime this summer. Machida is coming off a second-round TKO over Chael Sonnen at Bellator 222. After the bout, Machida said he’s willing to compete for the light heavyweight or middleweight title next.
