Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader open to welcoming Francis Ngannou to the promotion

Ryan Bader weighed in on Francis Ngannou's free agency and the prospect of him joining Bellator.

Bader successfully retained his heavyweight championship after a dominant win over Fedor Emelianenko this past Saturday at Bellator 290. During the post-fight press conference, he mentioned that he would be open to welcoming Ngannou to Bellator should he decide to join the promotion:

"When he signs the contract or whatever, then we could talk about it. I mean, Tyson Fury's calling him out and all that. I assume he's gonna go box. You know, once he signs with Bellator, we could kinda cross that bridge. But I'm looking to fight before that, so if it happens down the road, cool." [8:31 - 8:47]

'Darth' also brought up that he doesn't want to waste time focusing on a fight with 'The Predator' if he's not even signed with the promotion as there are other opponents for him. He mentioned that although he doesn't believe the former UFC heavyweight champion will join the promotion, it would be great, saying:

"He's not signed, first off. I don't think he's gonna come here but if he does, awesome. I think he's one of the best heavyweights in the world and get to go out there and beat him, and there's no question like okay, I'm legit." [11:38 - 11:52]

It will be interesting to see whether Ngannou decides to join Bellator knowing that they will allow him to compete in boxing fights. If he does, an immediate title shot against Bader would definitely be the most logical bout to book.

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Fedor Emelianenko officially retires after his loss to Ryan Bader at Bellator 290

It was truly the end of an era as Fedor Emelianenko officially retired from MMA after his loss to Ryan Bader in the main event of Bellator 290 this past Saturday.

Emelianenko attempted to retire as Bellator heavyweight champion and avenge his 2019 loss to 'Darth' but history repeated itself as the champion earned a first-round TKO win. After the fight, a number of MMA legends congratulated 'The Last Emperor' in the cage as he addressed the fans.

Despite retiring from competing, Emelianenko will still be involved from a coaching standpoint with his FedorTeam fighters. Some of his proteges include Anatoly Tokov, former interim heavyweight champion Valenttin Moldavsky, and reigning light heavyweight champion Vadim Nemkov.