Ovince St. Preux (OSP) will face his toughest opponent yet on Saturday night when he steps into the cage with TUF 8 winner Ryan Bader. OSP (16-5) has rattled off four consecutive wins since making his UFC debut in April 2013. He hasn’t lost since Gegard Mousasi was able to win a unanimous decision against him in 2011, a bout that was actually pretty competitive. OSP feels as though this bout with Bader will be his fast track to an eventual title shot, and a win against Bader puts him about two fights away as he spoke on the most recent edition of “UFC Tonight”.
“It’ll move me up in the 205 rankings. I’m at least two fights away from the title and that’s what I’m shooting for. In my mind, I won the fight. It ain’t going to be easy, but it ain’t going to be hard.”
“No, I don’t feel added pressure. To be honest, I feel there’s more pressure on Bader than me. I’m a newcomer; he’s been around for a minute.”
“I think he’s overrated. Nothing personal against Anthony Perosh, but I would have put him to sleep.”
If OSP can keep the fight on the feet, he’ll certainly has a good opportunity to put Bader away via KO. OSP has seven of his career 16 wins via TKO/KO and will enjoy a nice reach advantage over Bader as well. Bader has been knocked out in two of his four career losses, but has never lost a decision that has gone to the judges. Of course, Bader has good power in his strikes as well, and if he can wear OSP down with his wrestling, it would not be a shock to see Bader win a decision or finish OSP late in the five round affair.
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