Although it was Bader who delivered the alleged eye poke, it gave Kongo an opportunity to take the easy way out according to Bader.
“I was dominating every second of the fight,” Bader said after the event (via Dave Meltzer of MMA Fighting). “If he wants to do it again, I’ll definitely be doing it again. I was two minutes from finishing him and he took the easy way out. I poked him in the nose and he goes like this (Bader basically acting like Kongo made up the eye poke) to get out of the fight.”
It could be awhile before Kongo gets a rematch against Bader, as Bellator MMA President Scott Coker says Bader has business at light heavyweight to deal with first.
Bader agrees that there are a lot of interesting fights ahead, but isn’t very happy that he couldn’t get the finish on Kongo.
“There’s a lot of interesting fights, that’s what kind of sucks,” Bader said. “I felt like I was a couple of minutes from defending the title and then moving on. Instead, I get a no decision. I dropped him with a jab and dropped him with two left hooks.”
The bout at Bellator 226 was Bader’s first opportunity at defending the heavyweight strap since winning the Bellator Heavyweight World Grand Prix earlier this year.
