Ryan Bader hurt Valentin Moldavsky early in the fight, and while he never landed that good again, he kept his heavyweight title.
Bader (29-7 MMA, 7-2 BMMA) took a unanimous decision from Moldavsky (11-2 MMA, 6-1 BMMA) with a trio of 48-47 scores in the Bellator 273 main event. The fight was back and forth and took place largely in the clinch and wrestling exchanges. But in the end, Bader did enough to outwork Moldavsky, the interim heavyweight champ.
After his win, Bader quickly was matched up with one of his past opponents, Cheick Kongo, for a May 6 title fight in Kongo’s home city of Paris. The two fought in 2019, but the fight ended in a no contest when Kongo couldn’t continue after an accidental eye poke in the first round.
Moldavsky pushed Bader back early, but Bader drilled Moldavsky with a right hand that stunned him. Bader rushed in and tried to finish and landed several more right hands. But Moldavsky survived and tied him up along the fence.
Moldavsky shook off the cobwebs and dragged Bader to the canvas and into side control. Bader briefly scrambled back to his feet, but Moldavsky pulled him right back to the canvas. Midway through the round, Bader got back upright, but Moldavsky kept him tied up. Bader pummeled under and got to a better position with two minutes left. With 80 seconds left, Bader exploded out with a punch, and a few seconds later Bader was the one who pushed Moldavsky to land a takedown that allowed him to close the round on top.
Moldavsky threw a big right early in the second, and Bader did the same, but was off the mark. A minute in, Bader moved in tied Moldavsky up to look for a takedown along the fence. But 100 seconds into the round, Bader threw a knee that drilled Moldavsky low and led to a timeout for Moldavsky. On the restart, both threw heavy punches, then tied up again with three minutes left. Moldavsky controlled much of the rest of the round in the wrestling department to seemingly get back in the fight.
Moldavsky tied Bader up quickly in the third. And though he stayed upright, Bader couldn’t break Moldavsky’s grip to get free and put any offense together. With a little less than two minutes left in the round, Moldavsky finally got Bader to the canvas. He threw short knees and punches. It wasn’t much offense to speak of, but Bader was strictly defensive for the whole round.
Bader shot for a takedown 20 seconds into the fourth, but couldn’t land it. Moldavsky landed a right a minute in, and Bader hit him with a left. When Moldavsky shot for a takedown not long after, Bader sprawled out of it and went after Moldavsky’s neck. Ninety seconds in, Moldavsky was back to his feet and landed a 1-2 combination. Just ahead of the halfway mark, Bader landed a big takedown and went to work from half guard. It was a big moment in a fight that likely was 2-1 Moldavsky at that point. Bader landed a big right from up top and Moldavsky turned over to give his back while looking for a way back to his feet. Moldavsky grabbed the fence twice, and blatantly, until referee Mike Beltran slapped his hand away. A third fence grab may have helped Moldavsky get back up. But Bader again took him down, and Moldavsky looked tired.
The fighters tied up for a minute to start the fifth. Moldavsky went after another takedown after that, but couldn’t get it and Bader hit him with a right, then a left. Moldavsky was determined to land another takedown, but Bader defended it. He landed a big right hand soon after, then again defended Moldavsky’s clinch. Midway through, Bader went after a takedown, but Moldavsky scrambled and took Bader’s back. He stayed stuck to Bader back on the feet, but Bader landed some short punches and elbows. With 15 seconds left, Moldavsky landed a big takedown just ahead of the end of the round.
