Bellator MMA President, Scott Coker hinted at an Interim Heavyweight title fight coming soon.
With Ryan Bader in the world light heavyweight Grand Prix, he won’t be able to defend his heavyweight title anytime soon. Especially after advancing in the tournament with his win over Lyoto Machida at Bellator 256. With Bader on a revenge tour that could put him in front of Vadim Nemkov again, it makes sense not to hold up a division.
The featherweight Grand Prix will be coming to a close soon and the light heavyweight one just got started. The tournament format is the best way to solidify a number one contender but three Grand Prix’s might be too many. Or is it?
After Bellator 256 when Coker addressed the media he said, “Ryan’s obviously going to move forward in the tournament now, so we’re going to most likely put together an interim title. Which we may have something announced probably in a couple of weeks. Maybe even by next week’s event [Bellator 257], we might have something to announce.”
Bader seems fine with that idea as his focus is on the Grand Prix and getting back the title that he lost to Nemkov at Bellator 244. Bader won the heavyweight title in the World Heavyweight Grand Prix defeating Fedor Emelianenko at Bellator 214. He was the dual champion for a while and winning titles in the Grand Prix format looks like something Bader does best in but only time will tell for sure.
For now, to keep the other heavyweights happy an interim title may not be a bad idea. Coker said,”I think we’re going to be heading in that direction now.”
Good thing that Bellator started their official rankings this year, putting together an interim title fight should make matchmaking an easier task than arranging a third Grand Prix.
Will the announcement come this weekend?
