Ryan Bader changing his approach after obsession with win streak
Riding a five fight win streak into his last fight, Ryan Bader knew he was on the cusp of a title shot if only he could get past Anthony "Rumble" Johnson.
Up to that point, Bader had already beaten top-10 fighters like Ovince Saint-Preux and Phil Davis before capping off his win streak with a victory over former champion Rashad Evans.
All he had to do was get past Johnson and a title shot would almost certainly be his.
And then disaster struck.
Johnson stuffed an early takedown attempt from Bader, reversed positions and then hammered down on the former "Ultimate Fighter" winner until the referee stopped the fight at just 1:26 into the first round.
According to Bader, the plan was to make Johnson think about the takedown before hitting him with punches, but once he got stuck on an early attempt to get the fight to the ground, there was no escape. Johnson smartly defended the takedown and then before Bader could react, the fight was over.
"I tried going for a half-assed single leg and then I figured I'd just take my time to get back up and he just hit me with a few good shots. One of those gave me a flash knockout and that was it," Bader said when speaking to FOX Sports. "That's what sucks.
"I'd rather go out there and lose a decision and feel like I fought and I left it out there."
There was no sugar coating how painful the loss was for Bader, considering he was knocking on the door for a shot at the belt if he had defeated Johnson in January. If there was a silver lining to the whole disastrous performance, it made Bader realize that he wasn't really haven't much fun during that win streak that landed him a spot in the top five fighters in the world at 205 pounds.
Bader says his obsession with winning usurped the enjoyment he used to have for fighting and it took that loss to finally wake him up to what was going on with his career.
"If anything it gave me the ability to say all right, I'm done chasing this undefeated streak kind of thing. I got into a mode where I was like if I'm going to get this title shot it's by keeping this win streak alive and maybe I have to fight a certain way. It was all about winning and I was winning a certain way," Bader explained. "Maybe I was taking less risks.
"For me now with that out the door, it frees me up and now I can go out there and have fun. It started to be too much pressure and me just going out there and winning. It got to the point where it was a lot of decisions and that mindset could have been the downfall because racking up those wins and not getting the title shot was probably because of that."
What Bader realized after the streak ended was there are no guaranteed title shots even with several consecutive wins inside the Octagon. In fact at a time when Bader was riding four wins in a row, the UFC opted to give Alexander Gustafsson a title shot ahead of him and the Swede was coming off a first round knockout to Johnson from earlier in the same year.
"We see it's not a tournament style bracket to get a title shot. You can come off losses and get a title shot. I'm changing my approach a little bit is what I'm saying," Bader said.
Following the loss to Johnson, Bader could have pushed for another top five fighter but when Ilir Latifi came calling to ask for a shot at him, he gladly answered.
On paper, Bader is a heavy favorite and a win over Latifi probably won't put him back into title talk considering the Swedish born light heavyweight is ranked No. 12 in the world currently.
But rather than obsessing about rankings or title shots, Bader looked at the fight with Latifi as a matchup that would bring the best out in him and give the fans in Hamburg, Germany a show to remember.
"He has power in both hands. He's a powerful wrestler. Probably one of the stronger guys in this division, but I feel I match up well with him. I look at this matchup and yeah it probably is going to be exciting and I'm excited for it," Bader said.
A win is still paramount at the end of the day and Bader is confident that he'll beat Latifi once they stepped into the Octagon together on Saturday on UFC Fight Pass. The heavy-hitting Swede has won his last three bouts in a row including two by knockout, but Bader knows this is a big step up in competition for Latifi and he'll find out why once they lock horns in the fight.
"I fought the who's who of MMA. I've stood across from everybody. He really hasn't," Bader said. "He respectfully called me out on Twitter so that's how this fight came about. He sees something where he thinks he can beat me and take my spot and I'm not going to let that happen. I'm used to these fights and for me it's just another day and another fight.
"This is his shot to get into the top 10 but for me this is a fun fight to get back on that winning track."
