Former Bellator dual champion Ryan Bader suffered his first loss in over four years Friday, but he still holds the heavyweight title.
Bader (27-6 MMA, 5-1 BMMA) was stopped by Vadim Nemkov in Round 2 at Bellator 244, losing his light heavyweight title. He displayed incredible toughness, but Nemkov was too much, taking him out with a barrage of punches after flooring him with a head kick.
While Bellator president Scott Coker suspects that Bader will want to exact revenge against Nemkov, he thinks Bader probably will focus on defending his heavyweight title first.
“I think he’ll probably want to go back to heavyweight and fight some heavyweight fights,” Coker said during the Bellator 244 post-fight news conference at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. “But I do think this: As a fighter, he’s gonna want to come back and avenge his defeat at some point. And so whether we do it at heavyweight or he wants to come back right away, we’ll have him decide, but my guess, and again it’s just speculation, is that he’ll want to move up to heavyweight for a couple of fights, and then he’s gonna want to fight Nemkov again.”
In terms of who could possibly be next for Bader’s next title defense at heavyweight, Coker says there are a few upcoming fights that could determine the next No. 1 contender, but they are yet to be announced.
“We have a couple of heavyweight fights in early October,” Coker said. We haven’t announced these fights, so I really don’t want to talk about it, but we do have some fights coming up. We’re gonna have some heavyweights, and we’ll take it from there, but because of the stoppage, Ryan’s going to be on suspension for probably 90 days or whatever the commission puts on him, and then we’ll decide what we want to do.”
Scott Coker thinks Ryan Bader will defend heavyweight title, then he'll want Vadim Nemkov rematch