Ryan Bader Humbled by Loss to Tito Ortiz

  • Welcome to "The New" Wrestling Smarks Forum!

    I see that you are not currently registered on our forum. It only takes a second, and you can even login with your Facebook! If you would like to register now, pease click here: Register

    Once registered please introduce yourself in our introduction thread which can be found here: Introduction Board


WrestlingSmarks News

Active Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
8,907
Reaction score
1
Points
36
Location
Following a story.
bader-shoulder_large.jpg
Ryan Bader went into his fight at UFC 132 against Tito Ortiz as a huge favorite. He was expected to steamroll Ortiz, who hadn't won in five years. Instead, he was dropped by a right hand and ended up tapping to a guillotine in under thee minutes. Bader realized he needed to make some changes after two losses in a row, so he's moved over to Xtreme Couture to train. He spoke to Brett Okamoto of ESPN about the changes, facing adversity, and a few other things. First, he discussed the swing in fan support after the loss:

"On Twitter, I hear a few things," Bader told ESPN.com. "I haven’t had to deal with many negative things in my career. Now, I see, ‘You suck. You lost to Tito.’

"You try to just take it with a grain of salt. It’s whatever. I still have support from the fans who have followed me for awhile."

What does he need to work on?

"I’ve got to work on my defense and my movement," Bader said. "That’s one of my problems. I don’t move my feet. Those mistakes cost me the fight."

He also feels that he needs to challenge himself more by moving away from training at his own gym (Power MMA):

"I need to get out of my comfort zone. I want to be nervous because I’m sparring with a new guy," Bader said. "I’m going to be getting different looks. I really can’t work any harder because I was already going so hard, but I can change things."

Bader also definitely understands the position he's in, and isn't about to issue challenges:

"I lose three in a row, that’s tough man," Bader said. "You see guys get cut for that. So yeah, I do feel that pressure.

"I’m not calling anybody out. I’m not saying anything. I’m not even in position to say when I’d like to be back. I’m just waiting to see what they want me to do and it’s actually nice, because I’ll just get better in the meantime."

It will be interesting to see who the UFC books Bader with next.