Ryan ‘Master’ Bader talks nickname change; wants to stay at heavyweight and try boxing eventually

Bellator 273 is going down Saturday January 29th from the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona with the promotion’s heavyweight champion, Ryan Bader (28-7-1), defending his belt against interim champ, Valentin Moldavsky (11-1), in the night’s marquee matchup. The main card begins at 10:00 PM ET/7 PM PT on Showtime, with the prelims streaming on the Bellator MMA YouTube channel, the Showtime Sports YouTube channel, and Pluto TV at 7 PM ET/4 PM PT.

Ahead of this heavyweight title unification bout, Bader sat down with Bloody Elbow to discuss why he’s done fighting in two divisions, why striking at 205-pounds is more dangerous than banging at heavyweight, his rivalry with Team Fedor, recovery…