MMAOddsBreaker’s Frank Trigg speaks with UFC Fight Night 93 light heavyweight Ryan Bader as he prepares for his upcoming main card bout this Saturday (September 3, 2016) against Ilir Latifi at the Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany.
The former Ultimate Fighter season eight winner is looking to rebound from a tough loss to Anthony Johnson and he feels he has the gameplan set in stone to defeat Latifi:
“Although [Ilir Latifi’s strong and he can take you down, if you’ve seen his fights he doesn’t really have any control. Maybe that’s from his freestyle background. Collegiate wrestlers, we have to ride people and that’s what my bread and butter was in college. For me, it’s about getting up. I’m not looking to play around in my guard. He’s good at counter punching. He kind of stays on the fence, backs himself up into the fence, will jog around the edge. I need to utilize my jab. I used my jab well in the Rashad fight and then I’ll look for my openings to land my power shots at a distance that benefits me. If you get to close, he’ll swing with a wild left or right. I’ve got to make him work, get him tired, put him in bad positions where he’s working hard exhausting himself trying to get a takedown… I need to keep my back off the fence, put the pressure on him and push that pace. He’s got a lot of muscle and he could slow down a bit. I haven’t had a finish in a while and I’m going to take some risks to try and get the finish.”