The rush of free agency in 2017 and 2018 added more UFC stars to Bellator’s roster. Whether that continues this year remains to be seen, but light heavyweight champ Ryan Bader isn’t holding his breath for the next import.

“I don’t feel the UFC’s light heavyweight division is very deep at all,” said Bader (26-5 MMA, 4-0 BMMA), who vies for the vacant heavyweight title against Fedor Emelianenko (38-5 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) at Bellator 214. “There’s a handful of guys they keep regurgitating to fight for the belt. There’s not too many to pull from there.

“Yeah, there’s always guys out there floating around, but I haven’t really thought about it too much. Bellator is doing a great job attracting these high-level guys, and that’s going to come with just a little bit of time.

“The word’s getting out we’re treated well over here. To be able to have this (Bellator heavyweight) grand prix, and we saw Darrion Caldwell fight in Japan, and so that’s attractive to us.”

Bader, who meets Emelianko on Jan. 26 at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., on the Paramount-televised and DAZN-streamed card, already has his eye recent UFC defector Lyoto Machida (25-8 MMA, 1-0 BMMA), who knocked him out seven years ago in the octagon. Machida recently made a successful Bellator debut this past month with a split-call over ex-champ Rafael Carvalho at Bellator 213.

“Not a good highlight for me when they’re showing me rushing in and getting knocked out,” Bader said. “I had no idea what the hell I was doing back then, striking wise. I can’t even remember how many years (ago) that was, but I would definitely like to get that back.

“It’s a big fight, and I’m looking to get into these big fights. I have one in front of me here. We’ll see where we go from here, but that’s a fight I want.”

With another belt potentially added to his collection against Emelianenko, Bader could have two belts to defend in 2019. It’s possible that he may not need to call out any free agents – they’ll come to him.

“In the beginning, I said I wanted to defend both belts,” he said. “I’ve got to win both belts first. It’s got to make sense for me, and I’ve got to be incentivized to fight big old boys all the time. So we’ll deal with Bellator and go from there.”

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