After being finished in two of his last three light heavyweight appearances, Ryan Bader had something to prove at Bellator 273.
The Arizona native delivered in front of the home folks, rallying for a gutsy five-round verdict over Valentin Moldavsky in a heavyweight title unification bout at the Footprint Center in Phoenix on Saturday night. It was a much-needed victory for Bader on the heels of a 51-second TKO defeat to Corey Anderson in the semifinals of the light heavyweight grand prix in the same venue this past October, but the former two-division champion believes people were burying him a little too soon.