Ryan Bader has Bellator gold on his mind this year. The former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight is now on the Bellator roster. Muhammed Lawal will welcome Bader to the Bellator cage. The two are set to meet on June 24 inside Madison Square Garden in New York City. During a recent interview with […]
Ryan Bader has Bellator gold on his mind this year. The former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight is now on the Bellator roster. Muhammed Lawal will welcome Bader to the Bellator cage. The two are set to meet on June 24 inside Madison Square Garden in New York City. During a recent interview with […]
Bellator CEO Scott Coker discussed Bellator’s upcoming light heavyweight plans following Bellator 175 Friday. The card, which featured King Mo Lawal evening the score with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson with a unanimous decision win, went down at Chicago’s AllState Arena. Talking about the promotion’s title picture, Coker made it clear that Ryan Bader against current light […]
Bellator CEO Scott Coker discussed Bellator’s upcoming light heavyweight plans following Bellator 175 Friday. The card, which featured King Mo Lawal evening the score with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson with a unanimous decision win, went down at Chicago’s AllState Arena. Talking about the promotion’s title picture, Coker made it clear that Ryan Bader against current light […]
Former light heavyweight champions Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson threw down to put three years of bad blood to rest in the main event of last night’s (Fri., March 31, 2016) Bellator 175 from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. The main difference between this fight and their first match-up which Rampage won
Former light heavyweight champions Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson threw down to put three years of bad blood to rest in the main event of last night’s (Fri., March 31, 2016) Bellator 175 from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.
The main difference between this fight and their first match-up which Rampage won by highly controversial decision at the promotion first pay-per-view (PPV) Bellator 120, however, was that Jackson came in weighing an astonishing 48 pounds more at 253 while King Mo weighed 212 pounds.
Many rightfully wondered how Jackson would deal with the extra added weight, and not surprisingly, Lawal made him expend lots of energy defending his world-class wrestling background with nonstop takedown attempts against the cage. A few succeeded in the first round, but overall, Jackson defended many of the attempts successfully. Still, Lawal was able to win a hard-fought decision thanks to a pressuring third round that was light on action from two obviously gassed fighters, but it wasn’t without some adversity as he admitted Rampage had rocked him during the second frame.
It may not have been the all-out brawl the trash talk-filled buildup had fans wanting to witness, but it was a solid, hard-fought rematch that earned both mens’ mutual respect and Lawal a shot at new Bellator name Ryan Bader. Watch the full fight video highlights of Lawal vs. Jackson courtesy of MMA Fighting right here:
Bellator MMA officially announced its signing of top-10 staple Ryan Bader on Saturday night at Bellator 175 and wasted no time in revealing the details of his debut fight. Following the main event bout between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and “King” Mo La…
BellatorMMA officially announced its signing of top-10 staple Ryan Bader on Saturday night at Bellator 175 and wasted no time in revealing the details of his debut fight. Following the main event bout between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and “King” Mo Lawal, it was announced that Lawal would welcome Bader to the promotion in June.
Bader is, to this point, Bellator‘s biggest free-agent signing of 2017. Owning a 15-5 record in the UFC with wins over two former champions, he has been widely regarded as a top-10 fighter for much of his eight-year career. He signed with Bellator riding a two-fight winning streak (both knockouts) and immediately entered the title picture off his 2015 win over its champion, Phil Davis.
He faces a stiff test in Lawal, however. After an up-and-down start to his Bellator career, Lawal has cemented himself as one of the promotion’s most valuable, and best, fighters. A former Strikeforce champion, he has competed against, and defeated, many of Bellator‘s top talents at 205 and 265 pounds. His wrestling resume is exceptionally strong, and he should be able to keep up with Bader in the clinch and on the ground.
The announcement is somewhat odd, though, as it pits two fighters that Bellator is deeply invested in against one another, and eliminates a potentially interesting title contender. That said, this is a fight between legitimate top-10 talents, and Bellator is putting it on one of the biggest stages it can muster, sliding it into the main event of June 24’s Bellator 180 card.
Taking place at Madison Square Garden, New York, the card serves as a lead-in to the Bellator: NYC pay-per-view event, headlined by Wanderlei Silva vs. ChaelSonnen. Save a bout between Irish prospect James Gallagher and knockout artist ChinzoMachida, no other fights have been attached to the card. Expect more fight announcements in the coming weeks.
In the past few weeks, Bellator MMA has been making waves in the MMA world, not only by signing several top-level UFC free agents, but also by making a big announcement with June 24’s Bellator 180 pay-per-view (PPV) event form Madison Square Garden in New York City, their second pay event ever. One of the
In the past few weeks, Bellator MMA has been making waves in the MMA world, not only by signing several top-level UFC free agents, but also by making a big announcement with June 24’s Bellator 180 pay-per-view (PPV) event form Madison Square Garden in New York City, their second pay event ever.
One of the most high-profile signings was top-ranked light heavyweight Ryan Bader, and Bellator wasted no time in announcing “Darth’s” first fight for the promotion.
Mauhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal defeated longtime rival ‘Rampage’ Jackson in the main event of last night’s (Fri., March 31, 2016) Bellator 175 from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.
After the fight, newly-signed Bader, who was cageside live at the event, was annonunced as King Mo’s next opponent at the massive Bellator 180. The two faced off in the center of the Bellator cage, confirming the upcoming bout.
“King” Mo Lawal picked up a big win Friday night at Bellator 175 in Chicago, capturing two out of three rounds on all three judges’ scorecards to win a unanimous decision in his rematch against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Following the bout, the promotion had some big news: bringing the newly signed Ryan Bader into the […]
“King” Mo Lawal picked up a big win Friday night at Bellator 175 in Chicago, capturing two out of three rounds on all three judges’ scorecards to win a unanimous decision in his rematch against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Following the bout, the promotion had some big news: bringing the newly signed Ryan Bader into the […]
