Former two-division champion considering UFC return after nearly a decade

Ryan Bader wouldn’t mind one having more fight in the UFC.Before he was a two-division champion in Bellator, heavyweight Bader was a top contender in the UFC’s light heavyweight division where he went 15-5.Outside the late Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson, Bader has only been defeated by former world champions including current heavyweight king Jon Jones.

Bader has been fighting under the Bellator banner for the last several years, winning two belts there with multiple title defenses before the promotion was eventually acquired by PFL in 2023.The American became a free agent following a TKO loss to then-champ Renan Ferreira last year.READ MORE: Paige VanZant’s first MMA fight since leaving the UFC announced against 5-1 fighterPhoto by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty ImagesRyan Bader’s last danceBader’s next fight would be his 40th as a pro and at the age of 41, he knows he’s on the brink of retirement.



Even so, ‘Darth’ Bader believes he has more fight left in him, saying there’s a 70% chance he’ll compete in MMA again.“I wanna do one more,” the former Bellator champion told Submission Radio.“We’re even going through a couple opportunities that look pretty fun.

I see myself doing one more kind of, at least felt farewell MMA fight.“I’m always gonna be competing, whether that’s grappling or something cool comes along, boxing-wise or anything like that.”Bader says his final fight would have to be at heavyweight.

Ryan Bader open to UFC retirement fightWhile a promotion like the GFL seems like a realistic next option for the free agent, seeing as though most of their roster are former UFC stars, Bader is also open to the idea of a UFC return after all of these years.“My manager and I, we kind of talked about that and talked about how cool it would be, full-circle, come back and at least, retire in the UFC,” Bader said.“Even have one fight.

I don’t know if they’re in the business of doing that, but it’s definitely, we have thought about it and it’d be a cool scenario but we’ll just see if that even comes across our plate.” “I don’t wanna be in there fighting five times and whatnot; UFC looking at that, it’d be like, okay, so what are you doing? Just to get a fight to retire?“So, that comes across my desk, definitely open to it,” Bader said of one more UFC fight.The UFC doesn’t usually sign fighters over the age of 35 but they have done so more often in recent years.

The promotion signed Bellator imports Michael ‘Venom’ Page at 36 and Patricio Pitbull at 37.As far as one-fight contracts go, Jeremy Stephens, 38, was re-signed on a special one-and-done deal for his homecoming at UFC Des Moines.We’ll see if ‘The Ultimate Fighter 8’ winner Ryan Bader is afforded the same kind of opportunity in his forties.

Bader has wins over the likes of Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Fedor Emelianenko (twice), Rashad Evans, Phil Davis (twice), Antônio Rogério Nogueira (twice) among many others..