Ryan Bader

Arizona State Sun Devils

Ryan DuWayne Bader (born June 7, 1983) is an American mixed martial artist currently signed to Bellator MMA where he is the current Bellator Heavyweight Champion in a continuous streak that is the longest of any Bellator Champion.

In football, Bader was the 2001 Nevada Defensive Player of the Year and helped the McQueen Lancers win the Nevada state championship title.

Bader ultimately attended Arizona State University on a wrestling scholarship, where he was college teammates with former UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez and CB Dollaway.

While attending ASU, Bader was a three-time Pac-10 Champion, winning titles in 2003, 2004, and 2006.

From 2003 to 2005, Bader compiled a collegiate wrestling record of 88 wins and 34 losses.

He was also a two-time All-American, placing fourth in 2004 as a sophomore and seventh in 2006 as a senior at the NCAA national tournament.

He began training at Arizona Combat Sports in early 2007.

Bader's UFC career began as a contestant on season 8 of The Ultimate Fighter.

Bader, the first light heavyweight selected by coach Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, went on to win his first three fights on the show to fight with Vinicius Magalhães on December 13, 2008, at The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale.

At the finale, Bader defeated Magalhães by way of a quick, first-round knockout, earning the title of "The Ultimate Fighter" and winning the traditional "six-figure UFC contract".

An overhand right dropped Magalhães, and Bader followed up with strikes on the ground to take the win, less than halfway through the first round.

Bader's first post-TUF fight was at UFC Fight Night 18 against Carmelo Marrero, whom he defeated via unanimous decision, scoring 30–27 on all three judges' scorecards.

During the match, Bader tore his medial collateral ligament and posterior cruciate ligament, which kept him sidelined until the next fall.

Shortly after the Marrero fight, Bader appeared alongside fellow Ultimate Fighter 8 winner Efrain Escudero in the UFC's sixth video game, UFC 2009 Undisputed.

He and Escudero were available through a special code obtained by pre-ordering the game from GameStop.

On September 10, 2009, he and Escudero were made available for download on PlayStation Network and Xbox 360 Marketplace.

Bader returned against Eric Schafer on October 24, 2009, at UFC 104.

The fight was mainly dominated by Bader, who scored with a powerful attack of combinations standing and controlled the grappling, en route a unanimous decision victory (30–27, 29–26, and 30–27).

Next for Bader was Keith Jardine, who he fought on February 21, 2010, at the UFC's debut effort in Australia, UFC 110.

Bader scored a sharp jab on the tiring Jardine, which set up a flying knee to the chest and a left hook at 2:10 of the third round to secure a KO victory for Bader.

Along with Jesse Forbes, CB Dollaway, Eric Larkin and Aaron Simpson, Bader left Arizona Combat Sports to train at their newly opened gym Power MMA And Fitness.

Bader moved his UFC record to 5–0 at the expense of Antônio Rogério Nogueira at UFC 119, controlling him most of the fight with his wrestling and using his jab and short combinations to stop much of Nogueira's offense.

All three judges scored the fight 30–27 for Bader.

Four months after his victory over Nogueira, Bader fought fellow rising prospect Jon Jones on February 5, 2011, at UFC 126, where he received the first loss of his MMA career after tapping out to a modified guillotine choke in the second round.

In a massive upset, Bader lost to Tito Ortiz on July 2, 2011, at UFC 132 by an arm-in guillotine choke which Ortiz secured following a knockdown of Bader.

Bader then faced Jason Brilz on November 19, 2011, at UFC 139.

He defeated Brilz at 1:17 of the first round via KO, landing a straight right behind Brilz's ear causing him to immediately fall to the mat face-first.

Bader next faced former Light Heavyweight champion Quinton Jackson on February 26, 2012, at UFC 144.

Jackson weighed in over the Light Heavyweight weight allowance of 206 lbs by 5 lbs, weighing in at 211 lbs.

Bader accepted the fight at a catchweight and received 20% of Jackson's purse.

Bader won via unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the fight 30–27.

Bader faced Lyoto Machida on August 4, 2012, at UFC on Fox: Shogun vs. Vera.

He is also the former Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion, and the winner of the 2018 Bellator Heavyweight World Grand Prix Tournament.

At Bellator 214, Bader became the first fighter in Bellator history to become champion in two weight divisions simultaneously.

Prior to signing with Bellator, Bader competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in the Light Heavyweight division and he was a cast member and winner of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir.

As of December 8, he is #9 in the Bellator men's pound-for-pound rankings.

Ryan Bader was born in Reno, Nevada and started wrestling at the age of seven.

He entered mixed martial arts after a successful career in amateur wrestling.

He attended Robert McQueen High School where he won two state championships and was ranked as high as fourth in the country for wrestling.