Former UFC light heavyweight Ryan ‘Darth’ Bader is having the time of his life since signing with Bellator. Bader first captured the light heavyweight title and then moved up to heavyweight via Bellator’s heavyweight grand Prix. Bader then decapitated each and every opponent standing in his way to become a double champ. However one man did go the distance against Bader unlike others, another former UFC veteran Matt Mitrione.
Mitrione in the past has buried the hatchet between him and Bader. However as bitter as it may sound, Mitrione does not like the concept of ‘double champ’. He believes the interdivisional stuff is affecting the evolution of the sport.
“I think about it, right? I’m happy for those individuals,” Mitrione told host Luke Thomas on a recent edition of The MMA Hour. “But I think that classes are classes, and I think that heavyweights are an animal all amongst themselves. So, I think there can be interdivisional fights, and I think it’s great for the fodder for fantasy stuff. But I don’t think it’s great for that evolution of the sport. I don’t think it is. I think it muddies the waters and I think it negates — for example, if I didn’t lose to Bader, pretty good chance I’ll have a title around my waist for Bellator.”
Mitrione believes if he would have had the Bellator heavyweight strap wrapped around his waist hadn’t he fought Bader as he was 4-0 in the Bellator’s heavyweight division.
“[If] this fight never happened, I’d be 4-0 in Bellator, 5-0, something like that,” Mitrione said. “But now I’m 4-1 in Bellator, and my only loss is to a light heavyweight. So that still counts as a loss on my record even though it wasn’t really a heavyweight fight, but it was a light heavyweight that made heavyweight.”
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