Ryan Bader is moving on in Bellator’s light heavyweight grand prix, and that means the heavyweight division could be moving forward – at least temporarily – without him.
Bader defeated Lyoto Machida via unanimous decision in the opening round of Bellator’s 205-pound grand prix on Friday night at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. That means his next appearance, tentatively slated for July according to the tournament bracket, will be again at light heavyweight against the winner of the Bellator 257 matchup between Corey Anderson and Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov.
Regardless of how Bader fares going forward, even a loss in the next round would mean that a heavyweight title defense would be unlikely to happen until late 2021 at the earliest.