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Ryan Bader Talks About His New Pay Structure In Bellator

June 22, 2017 | Posted by Joseph Lee

In an interview with MMA Junkie, Ryan Bader spoke about his new pay structure in Bellator, which he said will allow him to be more free to do what he wants in the cage. Here are highlights:

On Bellator’s pay structure: “There’s a couple different structures: UFC likes to use a show and a win structure where if you show up, you get a certain amount and if you win you usually get the same amount – double. The thinking is you’re going to go in there and fight your ass off to secure half your pay. Sometimes it works out the opposite to where you’re so much better at a certain discipline than somebody else, you’re going to use that. If I’m a wrestler and I’m fighting a striker, I’m going to do everything in my power to keep it on the ground. Obviously I try to finish every fight, but you’re also thinking that you have to get the half your pay by any means necessary – whether that’s taking him down and try to just ground and pound on the ground and it ends up being a boring fight. With a flat fee, which I have with Bellator, you go out there and you’re not fighting for that extra, so you can fight however you want. You’re not going to be reckless, but you can let loose a little more. It’s more free. You’re getting payment no matter what and you go have a great fight for the fans.”

On his fight with Phil Davis: “I wrestled him in one of the quarterfinals of the national tournament and he beat me in a close match. That was always brought up before our last fight. He has a win over me in wrestling, I have a win over him in MMA and here we go. Here’s the third fight for a belt and the winner gets a trophy. It’s fun to look back and have a competitive history with a guy. He wants to get that fight back and I want to make an even bolder statement with this fight.”

article topics :

Ryan Bader, Joseph Lee