A definitive outcome was required.
More than two years after their first encounter ended in an anticlimactic no contest, Ryan Bader will defend his Bellator MMA heavyweight championship against Cheick Kongo when their rematch headlines Bellator 280 on Friday at Accor Arena in Paris. Bader has rattled off nine wins across his past 12 assignments. “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 8 winner last fought at Bellator 273, where he unified the heavyweight crown with a unanimous decision over interim champion Valentin Moldavsky on Jan. 29. Kongo, meanwhile, has some momentum in his corner. He last competed on Aug. 20, when he submitted Sergei Kharitonov with a rear-naked choke in the second round of their Bellator 265 main event.
As Bader and Kongo move ever closer to their second encounter with one another, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:
38: Years of age for Bader, who was born on June 7, 1983 in Reno, Nevada.
12: Bader victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 41% of his career total (29). His list of Bellator victims: Fedor Emelianenko, Muhammed Lawal and Linton Vassell. Bader holds three other victories by submission and 14 more by decision.
15: Seconds needed for Bader to punch out Lawal at Bellator 199 on May 12, 2018. Having occurred nearly four years ago, it remains his fastest finish to date.
60: Rounds completed by Bader as a professional mixed martial artist. He has gone the distance on 14 different occasions and carries a perfect 14-0 record in those bouts.
.779: Cumulative winning percentage between the seven opponents—Corey Anderson, Vadim Nemkov, Anthony Johnson, Glover Teixeira, Lyoto Machida, Tito Ortiz and Jon Jones—who have beaten Bader. They boast a combined record of 159-44-1.
46: Years of age for Kongo, who was born in Paris on May 17, 1975.
15: Kongo wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 48% of his career total (31). His list of Bellator victims: Tim Johnson, Javy Ayala and Mark Godbeer. Kongo owns four other wins by submission and 12 more by decision.
2: Stalemates on the Kongo resume. He fought to a two-round draw with Michael Knaap at an It’s Showtime event on Sept. 29, 2002 and settled for a three-round draw with Travis Browne at UFC 120 on Oct. 16, 2010.
8: Countries in which Kongo has plied his mixed martial arts trade. He has gone 19-6 with one no contest in the United States, 6-2-1 in the Netherlands, 3-0-1 in England, 2-0 in Canada, 1-0 in Croatia, 0-1 in Germany, 0-1 in Japan and 0-1 in his native France.
236: Combined victories between the 11 opponents who have defeated Kongo: Johnson, Lawal, Vitaly Minakov, Roy Nelson, Mark Hunt, Frank Mir, Cain Velasquez, Heath Herring, Carmelo Marrero, Gilbert Yvel and Rodney Glunder. They sport a cumulative .640 winning percentage (236-128-5).
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