Ryan Bader spills actual fight purse amid disclosed pay controversy, reveals he gets "eight, nine times more" than UFC rate

Ryan Bader weighed in on the controversy surrounding Bellator's fighter pay after fans were in an uproar on Twitter after the Bellator 290 fight purses were disclosed.

During his appearance on The MMA Hour, Bader addressed the criticism that fans had towards the promotion, reportedly paying him $150,000 and Fedor Emelianenko $100,000. He mentioned that the numbers were inaccurate and told Helwani that he earns significantly more than he did in the UFC.

Bader said:

"Oh yeah, like eight, nine times more [than the UFC paid]...Look, we know they put out those numbers, and it's the same with the UFC, but Bellator takes care of us. I've never been happier."

'Darth' spoke about the disclosed fighter purses as not being an accurate reflection of how Bellator treats the fighters. He complimented the promotion for how they have treated him since joining in 2017, saying:

"This is a job for me and I'm making the kind of money where it's hard to walk away from... The bigger players, in there, the champions, that kind of stuff, it's disclosed pay, but Bellator treats us very, very well and I know they treat Fedor even better."

Bader successfully retained his heavyweight championship after defeating 'The Last Emperor' via first-round TKO in the MMA legend's final fight at Bellator 290.

---

Ryan Bader open to welcoming Francis Ngannou to Bellator

After successfully retaining his heavyweight championship at Bellator 290, the focus immediately shifted to who Ryan Bader's next challenger could be.

'Darth' mentioned that he has fought a lot of opponents twice and would like to compete against somebody different. Based on the current free agent market, Francis Ngannou would be the most logical opponent should he join Bellator.

During his post-fight press conference at Bellator 290, 'Darth' mentioned that he would be open to welcoming the former UFC heavyweight champion to Bellator should he decide to join the promotion.

He said:

"He's not signed, first off. I don't think he's gonna come here but if he does, awesome. I think he's one of the best heavyweights in the world and get to go out there and beat him, and there's no question like okay, I'm legit." [11:38 - 11:52]

It will be interesting to see whether Ngannou signs with the promotion and if a Bellator heavyweight championship bout comes to fruition.