Another prominent name from Bellator’s past has left the PFL roster.
Former two-division Bellator champ Ryan Bader has parted ways with the promotion, per a report this week from Ariel Helwani.
Bader, a former UFC talent who found a second wind in his career as a stand-out fighter in Bellator’s 265 and 205-pound divisions, joins a growing list of notable fighters who have entered into free agency since PFL acquired the promotion in late 2023.
Other former champs, including Yaroslav Amosov, Patricio Pitbull, Patricky Pitbull, and Gegard Mousasi, along with other contender-level fighters like Neiman Gracie and Aaron Pico, have left the promotion in recent years. Some, like Patricio or Mousasi, went public with frustrations about receiving few opportunities from the promotion before their eventual release.
Bader explained on Thursday that he had worked on a deal to get out of his PFL agreement, which still had another fight left on it.
“PFL and our team came up with terms we were both happy agreeing on with one fight remaining on the contract,” Bader said in an Instagram post. “The Bellator run was one for the books. What a blast, and being surrounded by great people running that org.”
Bader made his entrance into Bellator during a big moment for him: Still riding a two-fight winning streak from the end of his UFC run, he was matched with Phil Davis for a light heavyweight title fight at the promotion’s first-ever Madison Square Garden card in New York City, New York, USA.
Bader snuck by Davis in a five-round split decision result, marking his first major MMA title win as a pro. The following year, he entered a heavyweight grand prix, scoring three wins and stopping Fedor Emelianenko in 35 seconds to grab the division’s title in the grand finals round.
While Bader dropped his light heavyweight championship to Vadim Nemkov in 2020, he would go on to defend his heavyweight belt three more times in the years that followed, most notably with a 2022 upset win over Valentin Moldvasky.
Bader made one appearance during Bellator’s PFL era, losing in 21 seconds to Renan Ferreira as part of a “PFL vs. Bellator” pay-per-view card.
Bader spent parts of 2024 filming scenes for “The Smashing Machine,” an upcoming biopic on Pride FC heavyweight Mark Kerr. Bader is expected to play a key supporting role as Mark Coleman, an ally and fellow competitor to Kerr during the late 90s.
41-year-old Bader may be a free agent and also has a bit of an acting career coming together, but that doesn’t mean he’s done fighting.
“I’m still open to different opportunities in the fight game,” he said Thursday.
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