Official: Ryan Bader vs Lyoto Machida - UFC on Fox 4

[Calder]

This is not a good match up for bader. At all.

I said a month ago he should be calling out Shogun... For bader
To have a chance at breaking the top five, he needs to face people
He can take down...

100% agree, bad style matchup

[LiamHillen]

Machida's KO in the second

[Baby Norris]

Bader obviously has one punch KO power but look at how Machida has handled fighters like that in the past... they don't touch him with enough power to do serious damage (except Shogun, and it took 5.5 rounds for him to do it). Bader could try to use wrestling but Machida does have solid TDD. Machida has better BJJ and his striking is better by far. Machida wins via flurry of punches and kicks leading to a TKO.

Damn, I wanted to see Bader vs. Gustafsson so Gus can prove he can handle someone who's a good wrestler. I like the idea of Machida-Bader but honestly I'm more concerned about who Gus can fight. Shogun's booked, Rampage is injured (I think, otherwise he'd be fighting Shogun), Machida and Bader are obviously booked, I guess Rashad?

I'm guessing they'll make it Gus vs Lil Nog. If Gus wins, he'll then get the winner of Machida vs Bader in a title eliminator.

[IKnowuWannaBeMe]

Bader obviously has one punch KO power but look at how Machida has handled fighters like that in the past... they don't touch him with enough power to do serious damage (except Shogun, and it took 5.5 rounds for him to do it). Bader could try to use wrestling but Machida does have solid TDD. Machida has better BJJ and his striking is better by far. Machida wins via flurry of punches and kicks leading to a TKO.

Damn, I wanted to see Bader vs. Gustafsson so Gus can prove he can handle someone who's a good wrestler. I like the idea of Machida-Bader but honestly I'm more concerned about who Gus can fight. Shogun's booked, Rampage is injured (I think, otherwise he'd be fighting Shogun), Machida and Bader are obviously booked, I guess Rashad?

I'm guessing they'll make it Gus vs Lil Nog. If Gus wins, he'll then get the winner of Machida vs Bader in a title eliminator.

Where has Bader showed this one punch KO power?

[vampxx24]

Wow what a step backwards for Machida. This does nothing to help his career as Bader is nowhere hear top 7-10 LHW material. Machida wins this easily.

how is it a step backward.... machidas coming off a loss and bader beat page who was still top 5. you can argue bader and gus are 6-7 so this fight makes sense. Look at the lhw division and look at how it would go...it was easy to tell after bader-page this fight could happen(i predicted it) and after gus-thiago it got even more likely. There not going to make machida vs shogun 3 anytime soon. the 2 do not have hatred ,there actually friends and zuffa along with most of the world view it 2-0 shogun...so shoguns out. when bader beat page it was easy to tell they were going to set up bader vs shogun or bader vs machida with how the division was layed out. After gus vs thiago, it was quickly rumored and said gus vs page will be lined up.... jones beats rashad where its heavily talked about rashad moving to mw so in all likelyhood rashad will be mia for a bit testing to see if he can make mw. this leaves shogun machida t silva and bader...... shogun draws silva which its only natural machida draws bader.....

so lhw is looking like this now
jones vs hendo (1-2)
shogun vs silva(3 and 8/9)
machida vs bader(3 - 6/7)
gus vs page( 6/7 - 8/9)

seems davis is the outside man here as he wont fight vera or gus and hes already fought nog. nog could likely draw vera, which will leave davis with a lackluster fight here since franklin dropped downt o fight cung and tito and forrest are set to fight.

machida easily out points bader, bader wont get close to him with his home run strikes and im not sure if bader can take him down. this fight makes sense as a win for machida brings him back up, and a win for bader would propel him into the top 5 which is where zuffa always wanted bader.

[vampxx24]

Bader obviously has one punch KO power but look at how Machida has handled fighters like that in the past... they don't touch him with enough power to do serious damage (except Shogun, and it took 5.5 rounds for him to do it). Bader could try to use wrestling but Machida does have solid TDD. Machida has better BJJ and his striking is better by far. Machida wins via flurry of punches and kicks leading to a TKO.

Damn, I wanted to see Bader vs. Gustafsson so Gus can prove he can handle someone who's a good wrestler. I like the idea of Machida-Bader but honestly I'm more concerned about who Gus can fight. Shogun's booked, Rampage is injured (I think, otherwise he'd be fighting Shogun), Machida and Bader are obviously booked, I guess Rashad?

I'm guessing they'll make it Gus vs Lil Nog. If Gus wins, he'll then get the winner of Machida vs Bader in a title eliminator.

gus vs page was already considered after gus vs thiago.

[Baby Norris]

Bader obviously has one punch KO power but look at how Machida has handled fighters like that in the past... they don't touch him with enough power to do serious damage (except Shogun, and it took 5.5 rounds for him to do it). Bader could try to use wrestling but Machida does have solid TDD. Machida has better BJJ and his striking is better by far. Machida wins via flurry of punches and kicks leading to a TKO.

Damn, I wanted to see Bader vs. Gustafsson so Gus can prove he can handle someone who's a good wrestler. I like the idea of Machida-Bader but honestly I'm more concerned about who Gus can fight. Shogun's booked, Rampage is injured (I think, otherwise he'd be fighting Shogun), Machida and Bader are obviously booked, I guess Rashad?

I'm guessing they'll make it Gus vs Lil Nog. If Gus wins, he'll then get the winner of Machida vs Bader in a title eliminator.

gus vs page was already considered after gus vs thiago.

That's an option though I think it would be weird for the UFC to have Rampage fight Gustafsson in his last fight. Rampage vs Shogun is where the money is.

[doyousukadaweena]

Is this official? If so, Machida via Machida/Couture. Bader has no chance whatsoever. I was really hoping to see Evans/Machida II.

i thought you liked hashad?

I'd like to see Evans get an opportunity to avenge that loss. The difference between me and the average mma fan is that win or lose I'll still be a fan of his. I have no idea who they're going to have him fight now. Just about every LHW worth noting is tied up except for Gus. I can't see them putting together Gus/Evans now. Gus is the only potential contender to be made after Hendo/Jones. Seems like dangerous match making considering that if Evans wins that fight they would lose a lot of momentum for their only top prospect left that hasn't fought Jones. It's not like Evans would be next in line again with a win just after fighting for the title.
If it were up to me I wouldve had Shogun or Bader paired with Gus. Thiago could fight someone like Phil Davis or just fall to the undercards.

[Lsquared]

Is this official? If so, Machida via Machida/Couture. Bader has no chance whatsoever. I was really hoping to see Evans/Machida II.

i thought you liked hashad?

I'd like to see Evans get an opportunity to avenge that loss. The difference between me and the average mma fan is that win or lose I'll still be a fan of his. I have no idea who they're going to have him fight now. Just about every LHW worth noting is tied up except for Gus. I can't see them putting together Gus/Evans now. Gus is the only potential contender to be made after Hendo/Jones. Seems like dangerous match making considering that if Evans wins that fight they would lose a lot of momentum for their only top prospect left that hasn't fought Jones. It's not like Evans would be next in line again with a win just after fighting for the title.
If it were up to me I wouldve had Shogun or Bader paired with Gus. Thiago could fight someone like Phil Davis or just fall to the undercards.

im just joking but srsly

bader vs evans
machida vs gus

those are more stylistic evenly matched fights imo, and its one that rashad can win easily to keep him where he needs to be at lhw

[AXEMELL]

hoping for a 5 round laydown and a UD for Bader in the most boring possible fight, and i am going to laugh in all your faces if this happens and you start talking shit about wrestling... i will call it smart gameplanning and strategy which takes top skill to pull off and claim the fight was exciting even if there aren't ANY punches thrown and call you all ignorant if you didn't like it, i hope Machida gets taken down repeatedly and held down so i can bash his ability to do something about it... hmmm maybe first round TKO is better... nah i'll take the boring UD

Ladies and Gents I present to you an attention whore, for other references please see Dana White and Chael Sonnen.

smartass... i am just fed up with the shit on these forums and MMA in general because of the direction it's headed thanks to the two people you mentioned among others

Ironic response of the day right here ladies and gentlemen!

[Steveomac]

is this going to be the main event? i have no interest in seeing this fight

[Zoidborg]

and people make fun of Fedor's competition

man... the UFC has some weak ass match ups

[themull]

and people make fun of Fedor's competition

man... the UFC has some weak ass match ups

Ryan Bader is a top 10 LHW after his win over page..Most people won't admit it but he deserves to be in top ten after that fight, and at the very least he is top 12...Ishii, Monson and Rizzo are all unranked opponents...Monson was maybe a top 20 but the other two, not a chance...

Even if you still refuse to accept the fact that Bader is higher ranked than Fedor's last two opponents (by a country mile I might add), Machida just fought Jon Jones also, arguably the most dominant fighter on the planet right now...Fedor just fought Ishii, who lets be honest, looked like he took a dive...

Hell I love watching Fedor fight, he is without question one of the GOAT, but his association with M1 screwed up the latter half of his career big time...He deserves to be fighting the best in the world but M1 and himself made their beds, now they'll have to lie in them

[colon98]

and people make fun of Fedor's competition

man... the UFC has some weak ass match ups

Ryan Bader is a top 10 LHW after his win over page..Most people won't admit it but he deserves to be in top ten after that fight, and at the very least he is top 12...Ishii, Monson and Rizzo are all unranked opponents...Monson was maybe a top 20 but the other two, not a chance...

Even if you still refuse to accept the fact that Bader is higher ranked than Fedor's last two opponents (by a country mile I might add), Machida just fought Jon Jones also, arguably the most dominant fighter on the planet right now...Fedor just fought Ishii, who lets be honest, looked like he took a dive...
Hell I love watching Fedor fight, he is without question one of the GOAT, but his association with M1 screwed up the latter half of his career big time...He deserves to be fighting the best in the world but M1 and himself made their beds, now they'll have to lie in them

Please don't call me a Fedor hater.

[SamuraixJack]

Horrible match up. This is a gimmie fight for machida.

another wrestler who hasnt improved in his boxing enough to be considered a threat to him.

Machida via UD

Baders only hope is that Naplam strike of a right hand to land over and over.