On Saturday night, Ryan Bader made history inside the Bellator MMA cage.
The former UFC light heavyweight contender wiped out the legendary heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko in just 35 seconds to become Bellator’s first simultaneous two-division champion. Bader captured the light heavyweight crown by beating Phil Davis back in June 2017, and didn’t absorb a single significant strike in his three heavyweight tournament fights vs. Fedor, Matt Mitrione, and “King Mo” Lawal.
Bellator president Scott Coker was asked at the Bellator 214 post-fight press conference where he’d rank Bader in his pound-for-pound rankings, and he has him near the very top of the list.