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TMZSports.com
Jon Jones choked out Ryan Bader in 2011, but the Bellator champ-champ wants another crack at the UFC legend … admitting he just wasn’t the complete fighter he is now.
TMZ Sports talked to Bellator’s 37-year-old light heavyweight and heavyweight champ — who’s taking on Vadim Nemkov at Bellator 244 Friday night — about his history with Jones … and Bader made it very clear he’s got revenge on his mind.
“I would love to have that [Jon Jones] fight. It’d be a big fight,” Bader says.
“Hell yeah, I would love to do some sort of cross-promotion with him or any of the guys over there.”
Remember, Jones submitted Bader via a guillotine choke during the 2nd-round of their UFC 126 fight nearly a decade ago.
RB admits he was a 1 trick pony back then … but that ain’t the case anymore.
“We fought way back in 2011 and whatnot. I had no idea what I was doing back then besides wrestling. Mentality, skill set, physicality, it’s all 100% different.”
Proof?
Bader hasn’t lost since 2016, has 2 belts, and has wins over Fedor Emelianenko, Ovince St. Preux, and Rashad Evans.
As exciting as the thought is of a UFC-Bellator cross-promotion featuring 2 elite fighters … the reality is, it probably ain’t gonna happen.
However, former top 5 ranked UFC light heavyweight Corey Anderson just signed with Bellator … and he’s in Bader’s division.
So, does Ryan think Anderson’s worthy of jumping the line and getting an immediate crack at his title??
Check out the clip.