Bader vs Kongo

Who won Bader vs Kongo?

Ryan Bader beat Cheick Kongo by unanimous decision in their 5 round contest during the main event of Bellator 280, on Friday 6th May 2022 at Accor Arena in Paris.

The scorecards were announced as 50-45, 50-45, 50-45 in favor of the winner Ryan Bader.

The fight was scheduled to take place over 5 rounds in the Heavyweight division, which meant the weight limit was 265 pounds (18.9 stone or 120.2 KG).

This contest was for the Bellator heavyweight championship.

Bader vs Kongo stats

Ryan Bader stepped into the octagon with a record of 29 wins, 7 losses and 0 draws, 12 of those wins coming by the way of knock out and 3 by submission.

Cheick Kongo made his way to the cage with a record of 31 wins, 11 losses and 2 draws, 15 of those wins coming by knock out and 4 by submission.

Ryan Bader's Bellator record stood at 9-3-0, while Cheick Kongo's came in at 13-4-0.

The stats suggested Kongo had a slight advantage in power over Bader, with a 48% knock out percentage over Bader's 41%.

If the fight went to the ground, their records suggested Kongo had a slight advantage over Bader, with a 13% submission rate over Bader's 10%.

Ryan Bader was the younger man by 8 years, at 40 years old.

Kongo had a height advantage of 2 inches over Bader. That also extended to a 8-inch reach advantage.

Bader was the less experienced professional fighter, having had 8 fewer fights, and made his debut in 2007, 5 years and 9 months later than Kongo, whose first professional fight was in 2001. He had fought 13 less professional rounds, 90 to Kongo's 103.

Bader vs Kongo form

Bader had beaten 3 of his last 5 opponents, stopping 1 of them, going to the judges twice.

In his last fight leading up to this contest, he had lost to Renan Ferreira at PFL vs. Bellator: CHAMPS on 24th February 2024 by knockout in the 1st round at Kingdom Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Previous to that, he had won against Fedor Emelianenko at Bellator 290 on 4th February 2023 by knockout in the 1st round in their Bellator Heavyweight championship fight at Kia Forum, Inglewood, United States.

Going into that contest, he had beaten Cheick Kongo at Bellator 280 on 6th May 2022 by unanimous decision in their Bellator Heavyweight championship fight at Accor Arena, Paris, France.

Before that, he had defeated Valentin Moldavsky at Bellator 273 on 29th January 2022 by unanimous decision in their Bellator Heavyweight championship fight at Footprint Center, Phoenix, United States.

He had been beaten by Corey Anderson at Bellator 266 on 16th October 2021 by knockout in the 1st round at Footprint Center, Phoenix.

Activity check

Bader's last 5 fights had come over a period of 2 years, 6 months and 2 days, meaning he had been fighting on average every 6 months and 2 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 13 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 2.6 rounds on average.

Kongo's last 2 fights had come over a period of 5 years, 11 months and 6 days, meaning he had been fighting on average every 2 years, 11 months and 19 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 2 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 1 rounds on average.

What were the odds on Bader vs Kongo?

Sorry, we couldn’t find any historical odds for Bader vs Kongo.