He gassed kind of early last night, but I think that might just be big show jitters. He looked like the incredible freaking hulk out there, and I am super excited to see his next fight. I think he could be a serious contender in the future with the right development.
Ryan Bader's an excellent fighter, the guy's a monster. I've been impressed with him since he won TUF by stopping Vinny Magalhaes. I've been following his progress since then. Glad he won, look forward to seeing what's next for him.
Just watching the fight now. Thanks for reminding me. If anyone hasn't seen it yet, here it is. http://www.mmator.com/ryan-bader-vs-eric-schafer---fight-video-ufc-104-t12520.html
Swings like a gorilla.. and wrestles like one too. Thats about all he has going for him. Eric freakin Schafer was picking him apart on the feet.
He should have finished Schafer in the first and should be finishing guys like that full stop. His striking is atrocious. He has power and is explosive and his ground game is good but he should have stuck to that. He's already falling into the trap that Evans and Koscheck fell into; they fell in love with their power/stand-up when they aren't really that good at it. Having said that he was dominant so it's not all bad. I expected more tbh, but he has the talent and the time to improve..... and to get it into his head that he ain't a striker.
Bader is a big, strong wrestler with some promise. He also has heavy hands but very little technique. His punches are wide and looping and slow. He also has little in the way of submissions. But good wrestlers can do well, especially if matched up properly. Right now he's a slightly better version of Matt Hamill.
He has a lot of issues to work out, he is uses up to much unnecessry energy, which us why I think he gasses, because he is in pretty good shape. If he wants to be a stop the takedown knock you out with a right hand type of guy, he has a very long way to go. I think he should show more confidence in his ground game, he passed the guard a few times and showed good technique, whereas he didn't show any particularly great technique standing, and his power fades quickly as he gasses.
