What to expect at the Bellator MMA 273 heavyweight title event?

Footprint Center Sports and Entertainment Stadium (Southwestern United States) will be where Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader defends the title against Valentin Moldavsky.

What to expect at the Bellator MMA 273 heavyweight title event?

Ryan Bader – Bellator’s “unlucky” champion

Ryan Bader is not a lousy boxer. The career of the American boxer once culminated when he won the Grand Prix heavyweight championship in 2019, after defeating the legendary Fedor Emelianenko. Not only that, but Ryan Bader also won the heavyweight championship and became the Bellator 2 weight division champion (heavyweight and semi-heavyweight) of this tournament.

However, by the end of 2019, Ryan Bader’s career had encountered many obstacles when he continuously encountered unbelievable and unforgettable failures.

First of all, the match without results against Cheick Kongo. Despite controlling the opponent during the first half, a foul from Bader caused Cheick Kongo to injure his eye and the match was forced to cancel. And because the playing time was too short, the match was put in the “no result” state.

In 2020, Bader defended his welterweight title against notorious Russian boxer Vadim Nemkov. After two rounds of back and forth, Vadim Nemkov “given” Bader a dangerous kick to the head and knocked out the two-weight champion. This defeat cost Bader his welterweight title.

Undeterred by the defeat, Ryan Bader continues to enroll in the welterweight Grand Prix in 2021 to regain what was lost. However, he only passed round 1. In round 2, Bader continued to lose by knockout to Corey Anderson in less than 1 minute of play.

Two important losses in the welterweight division have caused Ryan Bader’s position to plummet on the Bellator rankings. Despite holding the heavyweight belt, Bader is still ranked below many boxers who do not hold any position.

At Bellator 273, Ryan Bader was put in a must-win position. He needed to win to improve the position of heavyweight in the hearts of fans, as well as Bader’s own position. However, Valentin Moldavski was not an easy opponent for Bader to want to beat.

Will Valentin Moldavsky be a better “ruler”?

Valentin Moldavsky, who was chosen by Bellator to send gold to challenge Ryan Bader for the championship at the end of January, is not a “pave” for Bader.

The Russian boxer born in 1992 has 11 wins and only 1 loss. Currently, Moldavsky’s winning streak is a series of 6 matches from 2017 to now. Not only that, Moldavsky is also a member of the prestigious team of boxers Fedorteam, the team of the legendary Fedor Emelianenko.

Ryan Bader once knocked out Fedor Emelianenko in 2019. But this confrontation also gave the legendary Fedor a lot of experience to teach his students to do better. Specifically, the boxer Vadim Nemkov of this training academy knocked out Ryan Bader in 2020 to win the welterweight belt.

And to hold the Bellator 273 heavyweight title event, this tournament chose Footprint Center Stadium as the arena.

Whether the relationship between Fedorteam and Ryan Bader continues or ends will depend a lot on Valentin Moldavsky’s performance on Sunday (January 30, 2022).

Bellator MMA 273 will be broadcast live on FPT Play platform. Sports fans in general and MMA in particular can easily enjoy the top competitions of the tournament on FPT Play’s system.