Bellator 273 is going down Saturday January 29th from the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona with the promotion’s heavyweight champion, Ryan Bader (28-7-1), defending his belt against interim champ, Valentin Moldavsky (11-1), in the night’s marquee matchup. The main card begins at 10:00 PM ET/7 PM PT on Showtime, with the prelims streaming on the Bellator MMA YouTube channel, the Showtime Sports YouTube channel, and Pluto TV at 7 PM ET/4 PM PT.
Ahead of this heavyweight title unification bout, Bader sat down with Bloody Elbow to discuss why he’s done fighting in two divisions, why striking at 205-pounds is more dangerous than banging at heavyweight, his rivalry with Team Fedor, recovery tactics, and an openness to compete in boxing later down the line.