Ryan Bader

Ryan Bader was born in Reno, Nevada on June 07, 1983 and entered the mixed martial arts as an amateur wrestler. He is nicknamed as ‘Darth' and is currently associated with Arizona Combat Sports. His primary fighting style is wrestling and boxing.

He had quite a successful career in amateur wrestling when he entered the arena of mixed martial arts. He held two state championships at McQueen High School and ranked fourth in the country from wrestling. Thereafter he wrestled at the Arizona State University and was two time D1 All American and 3-time PAC 10 Champion. He is ranked eighth on all-time wins list at Arizona State University attributing to his 120 wins. Currently mixed martial arts fighters Cain Velasquez and CB Dollaway have been Bader's college teammates at ASU.

Ryan Bader was trained under current MMA trainers Trevor Lally and Todd Lally at the Arizona Combat Sports. He remains undefeated at his MMA career with his six victories in 2007. CB Dollaway, Jamie Varner, Thales Leites and Aaron Simpson are Bader's training partners. CB Dollaway is UFC middleweight fighter and TUF 7 contender. While Jamie Varner is WEC champion, Aaron Simpson is All-American fighter and Thales is UFC middle weight contender.

Ryan Bader has been the first heavy weight champion who was chosen by Coach Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira when he was a contestant at The Ultimate Fighter Season 8. He won all the fights at the contest and grabbed the place for the finals.

Ryan earned the title of "The Ultimate Fighter" and a 6-figure contract with UFC when he beat Vinicius Magalhaes at the Ultimate Fighter Finale 8. Later at UFC Fight Night 18, he won the match by unanimous decision when he defeated Carmelo Marrero. He tore apart Marrero's posterior and medial collateral ligament that would take at least 3 to6 months to recuperate.

Bader is also featured in upcoming video game for the UFC titled as UFC 2009 Undisputed.