Asked why Ryan Bader isn’t getting a shot at the UFC light heavyweight title, his longtime coach, Aaron Simpson, let out a long, “Umm.”

Then, after a pause: “Let’s put that in your hands,” he said during an interview today with MMAjunkie Radio. “If you had to guess, let me hear what you have to say.”

Simpson has his theories, of course. He’s perhaps a little bit tired of airing them. It doesn’t take much prodding, however, to flesh out the main issue facing Bader when it comes to getting his ultimate opportunity.

There’s the competition side of things, which Bader (20-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) appears to have come through on. He’s now won five in a row, including a dominant win this month over ex-champ Rashad Evans (19-4-1 MMA, 14-4-1 UFC) at UFC 192.

Then there’s the business side of things, which is where Bader apparently comes up short. He needs to look no further than the example of Alexander Gustafsson (16-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC), who got a headliner and a title shot against current champ Daniel Cormier (16-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) at UFC 192 despite losing a title eliminator to Anthony Johnson in his previous outing.

This is where Simpson has a hard time staying quiet.

“He hasn’t gotten hurt; he hasn’t hardly gotten touched,” the coach said of Bader. “The only thing that got hurt was him punching Anthony Perosh and braking his hand. In five fights, he hasn’t gotten touched, and if you can’t find that to be impressive as a real fan, I don’t know. That’s like a team going unscored on.”

Since Cormier edged Gustafsson in a “Fight of the Year” contender and Bader outpointed Evans, the UFC’s plans for the 205-pound division remain unknown. Johnson has emerged to challenge Bader, no doubt to jump right back into the title picture after a submission loss to Cormier in May for the belt left vacant after the promotion stripped Jon Jones (21-1 MMA, 15-1 UFC).

Simpson, however, can’t see why Bader or fans should be giving that fight the time of day.

“I don’t know why we’re talking about Anthony Johnson,” he said. “Anthony’s a great fighter. He’s got one win so far. He’s on a one-fight win streak. Bader’s on a five-fight win streak. Anthony’s a great fighter; he’s a pretty good dude. I know he’s had some issues in the past with his life, but he’s out calling Bader out, and the UFC’s even wanting Bader to fight him. But we were told – Bader talked to Dana White, and Dana said, ‘If you beat Rashad Evans, nobody can deny you the next title shot.’ Well, why are we talking about Anthony Johnson?”

The answer, unfortunate as it might be for the coach, is the return of Jones, who was stripped of the title after his role in a hit and run. With the ex-champ cleared of immediate jail time, a rematch with heated rival Cormier appears to be inevitable. Even Bader said that if that fight gets made, he’ll be forced to step aside, at which point a matchup with former opponent and onetime title challenger Glover Teixeira might be of interest.

Then there’s White’s post-UFC 192 comments in which he indicated he wasn’t tremendously thrilled with Bader’s decision over Evans. So the signs are there that a wait is in store.

But to Simpson, the simple fact is that Jones hasn’t returned, and Bader is still the winningest light heavyweight in the division besides the currently suspended ex-champ.

“Right now, it should be Cormier and Bader, and until we know anything about Jones – and that’s a whole other issue of a guy that you want to try to promote that’s got his own issues to deal with – I mean, why are we talking about anything other than Bader vs. Cormier? It just kind of blows my mind,” he said. “But it’s their business. It’s what they want to do.”

Cormier recently announced he will take time off to heal up from the Gustafsson bout and back-to-back training camps. Even before his layoff ends, though, it should become clear fairly soon what the UFC wants.

“Let’s see what we’re training for,” he said. “Bader was here this morning, and (Cormier) is who we’re gunning for. I don’t understand the other way. I’m wondering if it doesn’t happen, if the fans will eventually go, why are we watching this sport? It’s not the true sport where you win and advance. Sometimes losing, in Gustafsson’s case, means advancing. I just don’t understand that. It cheapens it, in my opinion. So maybe they’ll right the ship a little bit and realize they need a true sport as opposed to just entertainment. Because we have that in the WWE.”

“I feel like with today’s youth, to have good role models and people that are humble, it’s an opportunity to promote someone like Ryan Bader, who does great things and who is a good man and a good husband (and) supports our military like crazy – given over $80,000 of his own purse to vets. I don’t understand how you can’t promote something like that. How you can say, that’s special, we’re going to promote this guy, we want this guy as our face – we don’t want somebody who’s going out and pulling the crap they’re pulling behind the scenes; an (engaged) man with kids getting in trouble. But once again, it’s not my business. It’s very successful, and that’s the way they want to run it.”

If the UFC is looking for the type of grudges that flirt with pro wrestling storylines, Simpson said they need not look far with Cormier and Bader, who in May nearly came to blows and exchanged a few words while cutting weight for UFC 192.

But maybe the biggest takeaway for the coach is that he’s unsure what the UFC wants.

“Bader doesn’t like him, and when we get a chance to fight him, we’re going to beat Daniel, and maybe the UFC doesn’t want Bader as the champ,” Simpson said.

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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