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FIGHTER SPOTLIGHT: Up and coming light heavyweight Ryan "Darth" Bader
Aug 12, 2010 - 3:11:41 PM FIGHTER SPOTLIGHT: Up and coming light heavyweight Ryan "Darth" Bader

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By: Dan Wyatt, MMATorch Specialist

Name: Ryan “Darth” Bader

Promotion: UFC

Division: Light Heavyweight

Height: 6 ft 2 in

Reach: 74 in

Record: 11-0

Specializes: Wrestling

Career summary: Ryan Bader developed most of his game from an excellent collegiate wrestling background. After his amateur wrestling career saw him notch 120 wins, become a three time all PAC 10 and a two time All American, Bader made the move to MMA. He began his career dominating lesser known opponents in small promotions; it wasn’t until he landed a spot on The Ultimate Fighter season eight that he saw his career take off. While on the show he breezed through the competition and earned his way into the finals, taking out Vinny Magalhaes in round one by knock out to become the season eight light heavyweight winner. He then made a successful post TUF debut defeating Carmelo Marrero by unanimous decision. Since then he has gone on to dominate Eric Schafer by unanimous decision, and most recently he earned a KO win over UFC veteran and TUF season two alumni Keith Jardine.

Strengths: Bader’s strengths are all spawned from his technique and pure power. He excels at close range takedowns, and on the mat he shows the ability to use proper weight distribution so that his opponents have trouble executing sweeps and reversals. Unlike most wrestlers, when Ryan gets the mat he has shown a propensity to use his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as an offensive weapon scoring three submission victories in his career - as opposed to just maintaining top control and working his ground and pound. Ryan has also adapted a good boxing game; he keeps his hands up and has great hip movement when throwing punches. In addition to his devastating power, he puts 100% of his power into every punch he throws and has the ability to knock an opponent out with his left or right hand at any point of the fight.

Weaknesses: Ryan has an issue with his striking defense, and when his opponent attacks he has a tendency to either swing with him, take it on the chin and absorb the blow, or begin to back pedal quickly to avoid being punched. He’s able to get away with these because he’s faced lower level fighters, but if he were to do any of those with a skilled striker it could end the fight there. Swinging with his opponent of course opens him up to being hit, taking it on the chin could result in a knockout, and back pedaling puts him off balance and could result in a takedown or being knocked off balance if his opponent can connect. The best course of action when an opponent attacks would be to fade so that he can avoid the contact, and then counter. Bader also needs to work on his cardio; in almost all his fights we’ve seen him begin the fight with a blaze of haymakers and takedowns, but then as the fight enters the second and third round he gets gassed and begins to rely on his superior wrestling to lay on the opponent and score points that way, instead of trying to finish the fights. If he continues with those habits against more capable fighters he stands a great chance of coming out on the wrong side of a haymaker.

Where he stands in the division: Ryan Bader has worked his way into becoming a rising title contender. It’s too early to say he should get a shot at the belt, but he’s beginning to open people’s eyes with his strength and ability to dominate opposing fighters. The toughest thing that Bader will have to work through is that he is fighting in maybe the most stacked division in MMA. I’d currently put him at about 9th in the UFC’s 205 pound division, mainly because he hasn’t fought anybody that great so far, but if he can come in and beat Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at 119 it could put him over the top and give him a legitimate a chance to fight one of the elite light heavyweights.

What the future holds: Bader will be going up against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 119 this upcoming September. Nogueira burst onto the UFC scene when he defeated Luis Cane by KO in the first round, but he followed it up with a lackluster performance against an unheralded Jason Brilz in which he had a controversial decision win. On that same card, Cane lost by first round KO, questioning the relevancy of Nogueira’s win over Cane in the first place. In comes Ryan Bader. Nogueira will be the first fight in Ryan’s career against a relevant fighter, so winning could put him on the map. Nogueira is known for being a great Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner with a stand up game to match, and for Ryan to come out on top he’s going to have to work on his striking defense if he doesn’t want to wake up surrounded by a medical team, though he should be able to counter Nogueira’s Jiu Jitsu with his strong wrestling and top control. After that Dana White has hinted that the winner of the Bader vs. Nogueira fight could be matched up with Jon Jones, another rising 205 pound title contender. Jones brings with him maybe the most hype of any MMA fighter in the sport, so that could really give Bader a shot to prove that he can become a serious competitor in the UFC’s most stacked division.

How close he is to a title shot: If Ryan is able to come out on top against Nogueira it’s a good bet that he will be going up against Jon Jones, but incase that falls through, some other good fights could be: Forrest Griffin, a fellow TUF alumni, or possibly the loser of this Novembers Lyoto Machida, Rampage Jackson Fight. All three of the latter opponents would put him up against a former UFC Light Heavyweight champion and we could see how he does against championship material. If he can win any of those matches then he could put himself into a #1 contender fight. So assuming all goes right for Ryan Bader he could be three fights away from a title shot.

Next week: I will be profiling one of the UFC’s most consistent and competitive fighters, Kenny Florian as he heads into his fight against Gray Maynard at UFC 118 that will determine the next contender for the 155 pound belt.

Dan Wyatt is a communications major in college looking at a career in sports radio and sports writing. Outside of sports you can find him doing stand up comedy or acting in the upcoming independent film, Company of the Damned.