Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
Bellator Heavyweight Champion Ryan Bader will fight PFL Heavyweight Champion Renan Ferreira next month at the PFL vs. Bellator card on February 24.
Bader, who is also a former Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion, believes a win will get him a fight against former UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou.
“Yeah, 100 percent [Ngannou should be next],” Bader said at the PFL vs. Bellator press conference (transcript via Damon Martin of MMA Fighting). “He’s got his boxing fight coming up, but I think it’s perfect timing. We get this done, and the winner gets that opportunity. Francis is coming over, former UFC champion, he just had an amazing fight with Tyson Fury. He put everybody on notice. To have the ability to go in there and prove to everybody, to go out there and get that win, that’s huge. I’m not looking past Renan, but get that done, 100 percent [he’s next].”
Ngannou, whether he fights Bader or Ferreira in the PFL, will be making his promotional debut if that fight were to happen.
Ferreira also believes that beating Bader will catapult him to a future fight with the former UFC Heavyweight Champion.
“Absolutely, I feel like it’s undeniable,” he said at the same press conference. “If everything goes as planned, after Feb. 24, Francis is the name. That being said, I’ll be ready to go however he wants to do it. If he wants to do it in MMA, boxing, we’ll be ready.”
