Ryan Bader on broken hand, 10-8 rounds, and desire to fight ‘Shogun’ or Davis

On Friday, Ryan Bader will undergo surgery to repair a broken hand he suffered in a dominant decision victory over Anthony Perosh at UFC Fight Night 33.

“I went two back-to-back camps, so I’ve been in the gym constantly for four or five months,” Bader told MMAjunkie Radio. “So I get a little break, and get that fire back and get in there when I’m healed up.”

The injury, however, could nix matchups Bader thought he might get after his win, which put him back on the right track after a knockout loss to Glover Teixeira at UFC Fight Night 28 in September. He was hoping for a matchup with the likes of Mauricio Rua or Phil Davis.

“With a broken hand, it puts me back, and some of these guys that I thought I could fight, like ‘Shogun’ or a Phil Davis or whatever, they might get fights before,” he said. “I just have to wait, really. But I want to fight the guys that will jump me up that ladder.”

UFC Fight Night 33 took place this past Saturday at Brisbane Entertainment Center in Australia. Bader took third billing on the FOX Sports 1 main card, which aired Friday in the U.S. due to the time difference.

Bader, who also suffered a scratched cornea during the three-round fight, said he was forced to adjust his game plan when he injured himself throwing an uppercut in the first round. Unable to stop Perosh from charging, he took the fight to the mat and worked ground and pound.

Over 15 minutes, Bader (16-4 MMA, 9-4 UFC) consistently brutalized Perosh (14-8 MMA, 4-5 UFC) with punches and elbows. But Perosh managed to survive.

“There’s a couple times where I felt I could have finished it if I had my right hand to throw a little flurry because he turned his head,” Bader said. “If I had my right hand, I could have come down on that side too. But I had to reach around to do an awkward little hammerfist, so it kind of prolonged it.”

Despite the one-sided nature of the fight, only one of three judges awarded him a 10-8 round, and only for the second frame, when it looked as though the fight could be stopped at any moment. The final scorecards were 30-27, 30-27 and 30-26 in Bader’s favor.

“I don’t know what a 10-8 round is if those aren’t, but whatever – I won the fight” Bader said. “But that’s just scary, leaving it up to those judges as far as if there’s a closer fight.

“I’ve seen other fighters get robbed, and it just seems that lately, it’s been getting worse and worse. I won, so I wasn’t necessarily crazy [that] it wasn’t a 10-8 round, but if those weren’t, I don’t know what is.”

The fight was Bader’s second straight fight on the international circuit and fourth since his UFC career began as a reality-show tournament champion on “The Ultimate Fighter 8.” Before the bout, the 30-year-old  told MMAjunkie he enjoyed the lack of distractions from friends and family leading up to a bout on foreign soil.

Next time out, however, he would like to fight closer to home.

“I’ve been traveling quite a bit,” said Bader, who resides in Tempe, Ariz.

While he’s unsure of what his future holds, Bader said he’s faced enough top-level competition to where he’s more focused on advancing his career than fighting big names.

In 13 UFC appearances, he’s fought Jon Jones, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Tito Ortiz, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Lyoto Machida. While losses to now-champ Jones, Ortiz and Machida deflated his stock, he was able to rebound with subsequent wins.

After his most recent one, Bader is ready to fight whomever will get him closest to the title.

“I used to have this checklist, and I’ve gotten to the point where I almost have fought all those guys,” Bader said. “It used to be I wanted to fight all those legends of the sport, and I have been fighting those guys. There are very few guys that I haven’t fought that are the top guys.

“So I want to fight the rest of them, and you always want to get your losses back. All those guys that I haven’t fought in the top 10, those are the guys I want to fight. I’ll try to get those done first, and maybe then go back and avenge some losses.”

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 33, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.