Ryan Bader Claims That Rampage Jackson Started The Near Brawl
A post-fight brawl almost took place between Bader and Rampage Jackson, which Bader says started after Jackson confronted him in the cage.
“I was walking out, and then there was this big fat guy there where the gate opens up,” Bader said at the post-fight press conference (via Dave Doyle & Ken Hathaway of MMA Junkie). “And he said something like ‘You did that (expletive) on purpose,’ and whispering or whatever, and I finally got that out and I understood that. And then he was trying to fight me, and I didn’t even know what was going on. He comes at me and he starts saying ‘(Expletive) you’ and all that kind of stuff, so it is what it is. (I) walked back in the middle of the cage and said, ‘Let’s go, then.’ Then he got held back by my dad, I think, and that was it.”
Jackson and Bader have collided once before as professional MMA fighters, with Bader scoring a unanimous decision win at UFC 144.
Bader also says that Jackson accused him of purposely poking Kongo in the eye to avoid being defeated at Bellator 226.
“He thinks I did that on purpose? I was beating his ass and he thinks I did that on purpose so I can get out of there? No,” says Bader.
It would seem like a rematch between Bader and Kongo isn’t going to materialize too quickly, as Bellator MMA President Scott Coker says that Bader has business at light heavyweight to deal with first.
