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Ryan Bader: “The way I see it I’m a newcomer to this sport, who am I to talk smack to people?”
17 Feb 2010
By David Lethaby
With an unblemished record of 10-0 Ryan Bader is preparing for a
serious step up in competition against light Heavyweight veteran Keith
Jardine. Since winning season 8 of the Ultimate Fighter 26 year old
Bader has emerged as one of the division’s brightest talents. With the
bout set for Australia’s inaugural UFC event Bader has the chance to
out himself to a new set of fans as well as align himself amongst the
division’s elite.
Like many of today’s top athletes Bader took to competitive sports at
an early age and grasped at the chance to play contact sports as soon
as it arose: “I played a little soccer and other sports and as soon as
I was old enough I got into the contact sports American football and
wrestling. I was a good football player but Wrestling was a year round
thing so I had to choose. Wrestling got me my scholarship so that’s
what I went with.” Growing up in Arizona Bader attended Arizona State
University (ASU) and it was there that his top class wrestling skills
were honed. Alongside long term friend and current UFC fighter C.B
Dollaway, Bader excelled becoming a two time division 1 all American,
with his 120 wins ranking him the 8th most successful wrestler of all
time to compete out of ASU. Leaving College Bader faced the same
dilemma that many fellow top class Amateur wrestlers face, what to do
now for a career? “Amateur wrestling paid for my college but after that
you don’t really have many options. You can try out at a national level
for the Olympics but that’s a whole other level of dedication to
wrestling. MMA is one of the things you can do and wrestlers have a
great base for it. I’d been an athlete all my life, I didn’t want to go
out and work a normal job”.
Bader’s actual introduction to the sport would ironically involve the
Ultimate Fighter TV series although not as a competitor however, as
Ryan explains: “I'd always watched the sport and a wrestling teammate
of mine Aaron Simpson told me to watch out for his friend Josh
Koshcheck on the Ultimate Fighter (series 1)”. Seeing Josh do so well
on the show meant the opportunity to train in MMA became increasingly
appealing to both Bader and close friend Dollaway. Later the TUF show
would again pave the way into the sport as a locally based season 3
contestant sought training partners to prepare for his next MMA
endeavour: “A friend of mine Jesse Forbes needed some wrestlers to help
him out for his training camp and he brought me and CB in. That’s when
I got involved with Arizona combat sports and we realised how much we
could compete.” Arizona Combat Sports run by twin brothers Todd and
Trevor Lally is Arizona’s premier MMA facility. With an emerging stable
of fighters including Bader, Dollaway and others such as WEC champ
Jamie Varner the gym was Bader’s sole introduction to MMA competition.
As aforementioned Bader’s excellent wrestling base meant he was far
from out of sorts in Forbes’s training camp but the striking game was
completely new to him: “That was literally the first time I had tried
to throw a punch.” Despite being in the deep end with a gym full of pro
fighters Bader enjoyed the chance to learn new skills: “Stand ups
always fun, we work hands here all the time. I felt like I had
plateaued in wrestling so learning hands was fun”.
With Bader racing to a sanctioned pro record of 7-0 in just over a
year, he found himself selected for season 8 of the reality TV series
The Ultimate Fighter. The program was led by coaches Antonio Rodrigo
Nogueira and Frank Mir with Bader being Nogueira's first pick for his
light heavyweight team. As well as being picked first for the team Ryan
would also see the first action in the light heavyweight bracket taking
out Tom Lawlor via knockout in his first bout. Fighting first on the
show would later benefit Bader and give him the chance to work more
with his Heavyweight Brazilian coach as he explains:”Since I fought
first I had 4 weeks until my next fight. Because of that I was the guy
that would be in for the hard sparring as I could handle the bumps and
bruises. He (Nogueira) had a fight coming up to so I got the chance to
work with him a lot. I sparred with him most of the time probably more
than anybody else.“ Later on in the show Nogueira would bring in
Middleweight champion Anderson Silva to coach alongside him and Bader
would again find himself first in line to work, “Anderson came along
and I was his partner for drills. I learnt a lot from both of them. I
saw what it takes to be a top tier striker; it wasn’t only technique
though it was the mentality to. When they were preparing you, you could
tell how excited they were for you to perform. When people like that
are so passionate for you to do well, that makes you excited to”. Bader
would go on to defeat Eliot Marshall via unanimous decision in his semi
final bout setting up a final matchup against Brazilian Jujitsu ace
Vinny Magalhaes. Many fighters in the past have found life in a reality
series with a house full of fighters too tough to handle. Season 8 was
also one of the more lively seasons as far as house shenanigans go,
with the constant drunken yobbery of Junie Browning taking centre stage
alongside a number of practical jokes (mostly involving urinating in
each other’s food). Bader explains how he felt about life in the house:
“It was stressful and fun but towards the end you were sick of
everybody. I had been through similar things before though with
wrestling on tour and living in college dorms with groups of guys. I’d
start to get annoyed but then I’d think, I’m here for a reason this is
6 weeks to help set up the rest of my life”. Bader would later
dismantle Magalhaes in the final via TKO to win the show and earn his 6
figure UFC contract. As a TUF winner Ryan would now be a highly
recognisable fighter in the sport. The Arizonian had realised just how
much things had changed for him some time previous to the final: “Just
as the show was coming to an end on TV me and C.B (Dollaway) went to a
UFC. C.B warned me and said it gets kind of crazy. I thought there
would be a few people around but when we got there we were all mobbed!
I kept thinking wow these people want to see me? In amateur wrestling
you might get a pat on the back from your Grandma and that’s about it.
You get used to the attention in the end and fighting for the fans and
gaining more fans is what it’s all about”.
After winning his Ultimate Fighter crown Bader’s next UFC opponent
would be Carmelo Marrero on a UFC fight night in Nashville Tennessee.
The unanimous decision win was hard fought not least due to Bader
suffering a bad injury early on in the fight. An injury which would put
him out of action for some time after the event: “That was the first
real injury I’ve ever had, I completely tore my MCL. Afterwards I
couldn’t do any training at all for 2 months, it was a shock. I kept
wanting to go for a run and thinking to myself it would be better in
the morning but it didn’t happen. Now I’m healed though and the knee is
100 percent, I can do anything on it”. Ryan’s consequent outing would
be against veteran Eric Schafer back in October 2009 at UFC 104.
Despite taking a unanimous decision victory and keeping his unbeaten
record intact the American identified a number of things to work on
when analysing the bout post fight:”Overall I’m pretty happy with the
fight. He took a lot of punches, Schafer is a tough dude. In the first
round I was holding my breath nearly the whole time. I held it for
about 40 to 50 seconds straight going all out on him. I also threw a
lot of overhands; I want to work on throwing straighter punches”.
Experienced and dangerous striker Keith Jardine is next on the horizon
at UFC 110 in Sydney Australia, Ryan reflects on his opponents
strengths: “He’s most dangerous on his feet and everybody sais about
his unorthodox striking. He has a weird style and rhythm that I have to
watch out for. I think his ground game is underrated to, he isn’t gonna
sub a lot of people but he gets off the ground well. When he gets taken
down he gets straight back up so I need to be prepared to stand with
him. We’ve put a good game plan together”. The aforementioned game plan
is being developed as usual for Bader in the Arizona Combat facility
where the trainers and fellow fighters pull few punches: “We spar hard
3 times a week, I’ve been to a few other gyms and we definitely have
some of the hardest sparring. We’re all so competitive and nobody wants
to give an inch. By the time your actual fight comes around you feel
like you have been in so many fights already”. Despite the obvious step
up in competition Bader is quick to dismiss any suggestion that he may
feel pressure on his unblemished record: “That doesn’t matter to me, I
put huge pressure on myself for each fight anyway. I want to look good
out there being undefeated doesn’t matter. It’s about each individual
fight and I need to perform for my trainers and everybody else”.
Bader comes across as a respectful fighter willing to knuckle down and
do his talking in the cage. With the elevated attention on his next
fight however does he feel the need to trash talk or play any mind
games? “No I’ve met Keith and he is a good guy. I’ve got no ill will,
if I ever smack talk with somebody it won’t be fake I will mean it. I
don’t care for being cocky but each to their own, C.B (Dollaway) is a
bit cocky and Jamie Varner likes to play the heel sometimes but it’s
not for me. I don’t want to talk smack and look a fool if it all goes
wrong. The way I see it I’m a newcomer to this sport, who am I to talk
smack to people?” Being part of the UFC’s debut event in Australia also
adds extra spice to what will be the Americans biggest test to date:
“I’m really excited about that and getting to fight in front of new
fans, the tickets sold out in minutes. The way I see it it’s a free
plane ticket to go see another country. Obviously I’m there to win the
fight but the opportunities you get with the UFC are great.”
Outside of the sport Ryan admits to being easily bored and he takes
advantage of the warm Arizona climate by enjoying a variety of outdoor
activities including hunting and fishing. You are more likely to find
Ryan Bader hanging out with friends at a local lake than dancing in a
local nightclub. With his solid wrestling background and ever evolving
striking game Bader appears more than capable of making waves in the
talent rich Light Heavyweight division. Keith Jardine represents a huge
step up in competition but Bader certainly appears to be relishing the
opportunity. With the UFC venturing into Australia for the first time
Bader is looking to showcase himself as a future star. With a likeable
persona and full commitment to training the Ultimate Fighter winner may
well be challenging for other honours sometime in the near future.
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