Bellator 226 News: Two former UFC fighters almost get into a brawl after the main event

Bellator 226 was a chaotic event as Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson almost got into a brawl with Ryan Bader after the main event.

To say that Bellator 226 was a strange PPV would be an understatement. The finish was tremendously underwhelming and much of it didn't make any sense. The Heavyweight title main event between Ryan Bader and Cheick Kongo ended in a no-contest after Kongo was unable to continue the fight after an eye poke from Bader.

While the fans were naturally left disappointed as the fight ended abruptly inside the first round, the real action was yet to come.

An anti-climatic main event

Ryan Bader defended the Bellator Heavyweight Championship against the 44-year-old Cheick Kongo at the 226th event of Bellator. The champion was dominating as he had Kongo pinned up against the cage. Bader kept the ground and pound going until he accidentally poked Kongo in the eye with his thumb.

Kongo was in considerable discomfort and the doctors were called in to carry out the necessary checks. Kongo was done and the fight was officially stopped at 3:52 in the first round and was adjudged a no-contest.

Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson confronts Ryan Bader

Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson, who is Kongo's training partner and close friend, wasn't too pleased by the outcome. He barged into the cage and accused Bader of deliberately poking Kongo in the eye before almost brawling with the Bellator Heavyweight Champion.

Rampage was stopped by a large group of people before the situation got out of hand.

Bader addressed the confrontation in the post-fight press conference:

”I was walking out and then there was this big fat guy where the gate opens up and he’s saying something like You did that s**t on purpose. Or whispering or whatever. And then he’s trying to fight me. So I didn’t know what was going on. You know, I went through the whole debacle with the non-eye poke, the nose poke. Got a video too here in my pocket. He just comes at me, saying ‘F**k you’ and all that kind of stuff. It is what it is. Walk back into the middle of the cage and say ‘Let’s go then.’ He got held back by my dad, I think. And that was it.” H/t Credit: MMAMania

Bader claimed that he is open to facing Rampage again, who he defeated at UFC 144 way back in February 2012. Ramage, who last fought in September 2018, also seems to be building towards a rematch against Bader.