Ryan Bader’s coach, Aaron Simpson, thinks Anthony Johnson is a very good fighter. But Simpson also thinks Johnson has a tendency to break inside the cage in part because of mental weakness.
Just days before Bader and Johnson face off on Saturday in the…
Ryan Bader‘s coach, Aaron Simpson, thinks Anthony Johnson is a very good fighter. But Simpson also thinks Johnson has a tendency to break inside the cage in part because of mental weakness.
Just days before Bader and Johnson face off on Saturday in the main event of UFC on Fox 18, Simpson offered plenty of respect to Rumble but suggested that Johnson may be prone to folding once he gets tired or finds himself at a disadvantage in a fight.
“We know that Anthony gets tired,” Simpson told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour (h/t Danny Segura of MMA Fighting). “We know he’s got that bully mentality. He’s a freak when he can be, man. He is very dangerous, and that’s evident. [But] Daniel Cormier outlasted [Johnson] because he knew was going to be tougher than him. So that’s the same mentality Bader has.”
A D-1 wrestling All-American, Bader (21-4) has been winning fights in the UFC for years but never seems to get over the proverbial hump with a big win.
A win on Saturday would certainly qualify as that, as Johnson (20-5) is one of the most feared knockout artists in the entire sport. UFC President Dana White recently indicated that Bader would be next in line for a UFC light heavyweight title shot if he can defeat Johnson.
Simpson, himself a former college wrestler and UFC fighter, gave a detailed response when Helwani asked why he believed Johnson was mentally weak:
Once that’s in you, once you’ve quit and you’ve done it, it’s in you,” Simpson said. “It’s hard to get past that. It’s hard to be someone who, when the going gets tough or you’re on your back or you’re on your knees and you’re starting to get tired, you can come back from that.
…
You can see in someone like Daniel Cormier, that he has no quit in him. He was fighting up a hill there against [Alexander] Gustafsson. He doesn’t have quit in him. But you see that in Anthony Johnson, and that’s going to be exploited on the 30th.
Bader is currently on a five-fight win streak inside the cage. Most recently, he handled Rashad Evans by decision in October, and before that he bested Phil Davis by decision in January.
The 31-year-old Johnson has won 10 of his last 11, including four out of five in his current stint with the UFC. In May, he lost by third-round submission in a title bout with Cormier, an Olympic wrestler who pressured Johnson and pressed him against the cage, tiring Johnson while preventing him from launching his powerful strikes.
Johnson has 14 of his 20 professional wins by way of knockout.
Fight week is upon us, as UFC on FOX 18 is slated for this Saturday night (January 30, 2016) live on FOX from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. With pivotal bouts occupying the top portion of the card, the UFC has filled out the event with interesting names and intriguing contests. Are you
Fight week is upon us, as UFC on FOX 18 is slated for this Saturday night (January 30, 2016) live on FOX from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
With pivotal bouts occupying the top portion of the card, the UFC has filled out the event with interesting names and intriguing contests.
Are you considering skipping out on the night’s action?
Let’s take a look at four reasons why you should clear the schedule, and tune into UFC on FOX 18:
By now, “respect” must feel like a pretty foreign concept to Ryan Bader.
The 32-year-old Nevada native and former Ultimate Fighter reality-show winner is chest-deep in a five-fight win streak. Most recently, he’s amassed victories ove…
By now, “respect” must feel like a pretty foreign concept to Ryan Bader.
The 32-year-old Nevada native and former Ultimate Fighter reality-show winner is chest-deep in a five-fight win streak. Most recently, he’s amassed victories over former champion Rashad Evans, longtime contender Phil Davis and highly touted prospect Ovince St. Preux while ascending to the No. 4 spot on the UFC’s official light heavyweight rankings.
Yet Bader still doesn’t top anybody’s must-see list.
He’s still not the guy fans are clamoring to have fight for the title—and it might never be that way.
But when Bader meets Anthony Johnson on Saturday in the main event of UFC on Fox 18, he’ll have a fairly simple mission statement: Go out there and do something that makes it impossible for the fans to deny him any longer.
The 205-pound division remains very much in flux as we await Jon Jones’ in-ring return. There is simply no matchmaking option other than to have Jones fight Daniel Cormier sometime early this year over the title he never lost.
Once that nice little piece of business is finally settled, Bader could be the next No. 1 contender by sheer process of elimination. All he has to do is make an impressive showing this weekend.
And honestly? We’re fresh off seeing Johnson lose a fight to a guy with a similar skill set as Bader.
The heavy-handed former welterweight, middleweight and occasional heavyweight may still strike fear in most hearts, but he lost his opportunity at the light heavyweight title last May against Cormier.
Johnson almost knocked the former Olympic wrestler out in the early going of their fight at UFC 187—just as he has seven of his last 10 opponents while posting a 9-1 record—but he couldn’t hang with Cormier over the long haul. The same blueprint could arguably work for Bader, if he can weather Johnson’s early storm and drag him into a lengthy war of attrition.
Or, if he can shock the world …
That would be something, wouldn’t it?
If Bader can move past Johnson in impressive fashion, it’ll be impossible to continue ignoring him in the light heavyweight title hunt. Still, he recently told MMA Junkie Radio he won’t start shouting for his championship opportunity. He plans to play it cool, as reported by Junkie’s Steven Morracco:
I don’t want to come off fake. You see these guys now that are trying to take the Conor McGregor approach when they’re just not good at it, and they’ve been respectful their whole career, and then all of a sudden they try this, and everybody sees through it. You look like an idiot. I don’t want to be that guy.
Maybe he speaks a bit from experience here.
When Bader tried to confront Cormier at the UFC 187 post-fight press conference last year, it was met with mostly groans. The two exchanged heated words, but it felt forced. Even if the beef between them was organic, it just wasn’t what fans wanted to see from two normally mild-mannered fighters.
That incident alone made it clear that Bader isn’t going to talk his way out of our existing notions of him. They’re already too solidly formed. He’s going to have to fight his way out.
Ironically, most of Bader’s problem comes from his sheer longevity. He’s been in the UFC since 2008, and after 17 fights in the Octagon, we figure we’ve pretty much seen the best of him. He lost once to Jones in 2011, then lost a stunner to Tito Ortiz at UFC 132 and his reputation never fully recovered.
Add in knockout losses to Lyoto Machida and Glover Teixeira in 2012 and ’13 respectively, and you start to get the picture.
Even when Bader is winning, it hasn’t felt that impressive. Nine of his 13 UFC wins have come by decision, and that includes all five during his current stretch. The list of opponents he’s stopped in the Octagon isn’t exactly imposing, either: Vladimir Matyushenko, Jason Brilz, Keith Jardine and Vinny Magalhaes.
It all adds up to make Bader what stockbrokers might call a “value stock.” He’s still a nice little commodity, but we don’t expect him to suddenly post 50 percent annual gains.
And that’s kind of a problem when you’re trying to be the best in the world.
After so many years and so many fights, it’s not going to be easy for Bader to change our minds about him.
This fight may represent one of his last chances.
Meanwhile, Johnson’s mandate is basically to hang around and continue being a viable—and terrifying—contender.
It’s no secret that the UFC would still like to set up a bout between Johnson and Jones. That’s what they were angling for in the first place early last year, before Jones was stripped of his title and suspended on the heels of a hit-and-run accident in his hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
With Jones now back after a slap on the wrist from the courts, Johnson could shape up as his last big test at 205 pounds before an eventual move to heavyweight.
After beating Cormier once already at UFC 182, Jones will be a big favorite over the current champ whenever their rematch is made. The same is true for Johnson this weekend, as he’s going off as more than a 3-1 pick over Bader, according to Odds Shark.
So, really, just a couple of fairly minor dominoes have to fall for Johnson to find himself fighting for a UFC title again. That’s not a bad outcome for a guy who has been plagued by out-of-the-cage problems since he returned to the UFC in 2014.
Johnson knows he and Bader are after the same prize but considers himself to be further up the food chain.
“[Bader] feels like he should be the next in line for a title shot, but at the same time, I think you have to beat somebody in the top three to say something like that,” he told Fox Sports’ Damon Martin this week. “I fought Alexander [Gustafsson] and he was No. 2 and I beat him to make sure I was legit to be a title contender. I feel everybody should go that route.”
Johnson shapes up as that kind of test for Bader. If “Rumble” can do to him what he did to Gustafsson and what he’s done to the lion’s share of his recent opponents, it signals just a continuation of the status quo.
It’s Bader here with the most to prove. If he can pull a shocker against Johnson, we’ll have no choice but to consider him the division’s top contender, no matter what happens when Jones and Cormier finally meet.
Who knows, maybe we’ll even grant him a bit more of our respect.
The return of Jon Jones is great for the sport, but not good news for prospective title contenders like Anthony “Rumble” Johnson and Ryan “Darth” Bader. The two light heavyweights will fight one another this weekend at UFC on FOX 18, serving as the main event in what can partially be considered a No. 1
The return of Jon Jones is great for the sport, but not good news for prospective title contenders like Anthony “Rumble” Johnson and Ryan “Darth” Bader.
The two light heavyweights will fight one another this weekend at UFC on FOX 18, serving as the main event in what can partially be considered a No. 1 contender’s bout. But in reality, whoever wins the contest will undoubtedly be a step behind the division’s elite.
Adding in fighting styles, past performances, and scheduling, Bader and Johnson don’t offer much in the 205-pound title picture. While their presence within the weight class helps add depth to a declining roster, fighting for UFC gold might not be their cup of tea.
Here are four reasons why the winner of Bader vs. Johnson this Saturday means nothing to the light heavyweight title scene.
Ryan Bader will get one more chance to make his case for a shot at the light heavyweight title at UFC on Fox 18 Saturday night.
Seven years in the UFC and a great many ups and downs have transformed Bader into a complete, if unexciting fighter, but los…
Ryan Bader will get one more chance to make his case for a shot at the light heavyweight title at UFC on Fox 18 Saturday night.
Seven years in the UFC and a great many ups and downs have transformed Bader into a complete, if unexciting fighter, but losses every time he has stepped up against elite competition have left fans doubting whether he can ever break through into the top of the division. A loss here would effectively mark him as a gatekeeper to the light heavyweight elite.
He’ll get his chance against Anthony Johnson, who rebounded from a championship loss to Daniel Cormier by flatlining Jimi Manuwa in September. The power-punching Johnson was on a nine-fight winning streak prior to falling short against Cormier, and the possibility of a title fight against a returning Jon Jones still carries great interest.
The rest of the card is strong. In the co-main event, veterans Josh Barnett and Ben Rothwell will stake their own claims on a top contender slot in the messy, chaotic heavyweight division. With age setting in for both fighters, this is likely their last chance to make a run at the title.
A crackling bantamweight matchup between Iuri Alcantara and Jimmie Rivera is flying under the radar, but it promises incredible action. Nineteen-year-old phenom Sage Northcutt will open the card in an intriguing short-notice scrap against the experienced and durable Bryan Barberena.
On the prelims, former elite welterweight Jake Ellenberger gets one more chance to prove he still belongs against Tarec Saffiedine, who returns from a long injury layoff. Top lightweight prospect Olivier Aubin-Mercier and Randy Brown, the star of the last episode of Dana White‘s Looking for a Fight, both grace the undercard as well.
UFC on Fox 18 on Saturday is headlined by a possible light heavyweight title eliminator between No. 2-ranked Anthony Johnson (20-5) and No. 4-ranked Ryan Bader (20-4).
Johnson failed in his bid to capture the light heavyweight gold at UFC 187 against D…
UFC on Fox 18 on Saturday is headlined by a possible light heavyweight title eliminator between No. 2-ranked Anthony Johnson (20-5) and No. 4-ranked Ryan Bader (20-4).
Johnson failed in his bid to capture the light heavyweight gold at UFC 187 against Daniel Cormier but rebounded with a knockout victory over JimiManuwa. The win moved him back into contention.
Bader has won five straight and is coming off a decision victory over former champion Rashad Evans. One more win will put him in the catbird seat without much argument as to who deserves the next crack at the 205-pound championship.
How does this fight break down?
Let’s find out who walks away as the top contender in the UFC on Fox 18 main event between Johnson and Bader.
Ryan Bader‘s coach, Aaron Simpson, thinks Anthony Johnson is a very good fighter. But Simpson also thinks Johnson has a tendency to break inside the cage in part because of mental weakness.