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Bellator MMA

After an eye poke brought their first meeting to an unsatisfying end in less than a round, Bellator heavyweight Ryan Bader was looking to clearly assert his dominance against challenger Cheick Kongo in the rematch at Bellator 280, which took place Friday night in Paris. Bader was able to do just that, wrestling his way to a clear but uneventful victory over five rounds to retain his title.

Bader made it clear from the opening moments that he was not looking to enter into striking exchanges with Bader, immediately locking himself to Kongo's waist and working to put the fight on the floor. Kongo did well to keep from being put on his back, though not without the help of multiple fence grabs. Still, for the entirety of the first round, Bader remained stuck to Kongo, holding a waist lock and landing knees to the thighs until finally scoring with an actual takedown with just 30 seconds left in the opening frame.

Kongo had momentary success in the striking game in the opening moments of the second round, landing a few clean punches. That was not enough to take Bader away from going right back to what had worked in the opening round, grabbing a body lock against the cage and working for takedowns and short strikes.

With two rounds in the books, the template for the fight was fully established. Kongo would have only moments each round with which to let his strikes go before Bader would close the distance and put his wrestling skills to work against the challenger.

Unfortunately for Kongo, he could not do enough with the brief moments at distance and Bader's wrestling was more and more effective as the fight wore on. In the championship rounds, Bader was able to explode through double-leg takedowns to put Kongo in worse places, though the champion was never close to actually finishing the fight.

Kongo had one final moment in the final minutes of the fight, firing off a combination of strikes and landing a few punches to Bader's face. Still, Bader powered through, locked up again and wrestled his way to the final horn.

Bader couldn't cover up some of his disappointment with a dominant win but one that was not particularly thrilling.

"Kind of an uneventful fight," Bader said after the fight. "I didn't want it to go that way but I got the win."  

As the fight went to the scorecards, there was little doubt as to who would receive the win on the scorecards, even in front of Kongo's countrymen. The official cards read 50-45 across the board as Bader made good after his eye poke of Kongo in September 2019.

Bader is now riding a two-fight winning streak since losing to Corey Anderson in the Bellator Light Heavyweight World Grand Prix in October 2021. That loss derailed Bader's quest to once again become a two-division champion.

Recent run of bad results at light heavyweight aside, Bader is still the man in control of the heavyweight division and someone will have to stop his wrestling to end his reign.

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