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Ryan Bader has commented on Bellator CEO Scott Coker’s comments about him being the best heavyweight in the world.
After Stipe Miocic knocked out Daniel Cormier last month at UFC 241, Bellator CEO Scott Coker tweeted out that Ryan Bader was the “best heavyweight on the planet.”
Bader, the Bellator heavyweight champion, has backed up Coker’s claims by stating he believes he is the best. The 36-year-old knocked out Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in his heavyweight debut, and went on to KO Fedor Emelianenko to win the Bellator heavyweight Grand Prix.
“For me, I believe that [I am the best]. If you don’t believe that, then you shouldn’t be in this sport. I do believe I’m the best in the world,” Bader said to MMA Fighting. “I believe coming up to heavyweight, I can shine.
“That’s where I feel the best in terms of being agile, speed, cardio, all that kind of stuff plus I have the power. It was nice to get that recognition, too, so now I just have to go out there and continue to prove it.
Bader has expressed in the past he was open to a cross-promotion fight with former UFC heavyweight champ Cormier, however “Darth” doesn’t see the two promotions ever merging to put together a fight.
“You know where I stand on the Cormier fight, I wanted that fight forever,” Bader said. “We tried to get Cormier [in] cross promotion, champ-champ versus champ-champ fight, we reached out to see if there was any interest in doing a little cross promotion. It’s probably never going to happen but you never know. It’s happened before in boxing, I don’t see the UFC doing it with Bellator but you never know.”
Bader will return to the cage this weekend to defend his heavyweight belt against Cheick Kongo at Bellator 226 in California.