Nearly nine years after their first meeting, Ryan Bader extracted some revenge and took a step toward regaining his light heavyweight title.
In the scheduled five-round opener of the Bellator light heavyweight grand prix, Bader and Lyoto Machida squared off in the main event of Bellator 256 Friday night at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. Bader was able to negate the first knockout loss of his career to Machida, which took place at UFC on FOX 4 in August 2012, with a dominant unanimous decision win.
Machida landed the first strikes of the fight with a pair of leg kicks to the current heavyweight champion, followed by a hard kick to the body.