Scott Coker says Ryan Bader will get some ‘leeway’ as two-division champion

Ryan Bader now owns the Bellator light heavyweight heavyweight titles. He earned the former with a defeat of Phil Davis last year, and the latter with a Saturday night, Bellator 214 knockout of Fedor Emelianenko.

With two belts now wrapped round his waist, Ryan Bader has the option of ruling over two divisions if he so chooses. Drifting back and forth between two weight classes, of course, will not be easy.

Speaking at the Bellator 214 post-fight press conference, Bellator President Scott Coker discussed the two-division title range of Ryan Bader, and said that the promotion will give its new champ-champ some leeway if he decides he wants to rule over both divisions. That being said, he’s not afraid to end one of Bader’s title reigns if things get to congested in either division.

“That’s going to be up to Ryan as long as we don’t have the light heavyweight (title picture) being jammed up,” Coker told reporters after Bellator 214 (via MMAjunkie). “If Gegard (Mousasi) – because he told me he wants to move up and Lyoto (Machida) might want to move up at some point and fight Bader at 205. As long as those fights aren’t right down the road for him, we’re going to give him a little bit of leeway to say, ‘Hey, if you want to defend the heavyweight, then you can do it.’

“Then he’ll go back-and-forth. But I think eventually there will be a bottleneck at some point, and then we’ll all make a business decision.”

How long do you think Ryan Bader will hold onto his two Bellator belts?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 1/27/2019.