UFC
Rashad Evans thinks UFC 192 opponent Ryan Bader is "not a very high IQ fighter"
Sep 2, 2015 - 10:45:12 AM Rashad Evans thinks UFC 192 opponent Ryan Bader is "not a very high IQ fighter"

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"It's funny, man, Bader is talking a little reckless, and it definitely makes me want to punish him. I'm going to sleep thinking about some of the things and I'm like, 'I can't believe he's saying all of this.' I made a comment to him first and I was just kind of teasing. But then he kept going. Then he brought out the fat picture and then he just kept going and going. So, it's like, 'Okay, he wants to keep on going?' Now I'm starting to believe that he really thinks this. Now, because he really thinks this, I'm going to punish this dude. I'm going to punish him. Bad.

...I'm going to stop him in the second round. How? I just see him getting desperate after trying to take me down, and that doesn't happen. Then I'll lay some hands on him. I think that Bader is good and I think that Bader has gotten a lot better. How Bader used to fight – his fight IQ used to be really low. He would clutch defeat out of the jaws of victory. You used to be like, 'How the hell does he do that?' That used to be how Bader fought. He wasn't a very smart fighter. He's gotten a bit smarter. But, at the same time, he's still Bader. He still makes mistakes like that. He still is not a very high IQ fighter."

-Rashad Evans talks to MMAJunkie.com about UFC 192 opponent Ryan Bader and their matchup in Houston next month.

Penick's Analysis: There have been times in Bader's career where it's seemed his strategy was simply out-wrestle his opponent, and though he's had stretches where he's been more in love with his striking, that wrestling game's always been his fall back. I don't know that he's been an unintelligent fighter, and the only loss that looks really bad on him was how he was defeated by Tito Ortiz in 2011. You could argue the Glover Teixeira loss as well, given he'd been winning that one on the feet before getting into a firefight and getting caught. Still, he's not a dumb fighter on the whole. Evans coming in saying he's going to "punish him" is projecting a return confidence that he's going to be getting back to form, but there are tons of questions remaining regarding how he's going to look after such a long layoff. So they've each got questions about what they're going to be able to do in this fight in Houston, and we'll find out in a month which of them is the superior fighter in 2015.

[Rashad Evans art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]