• UFC 126

Bader training to avoid Jones' spinning back elbow

Ryan Bader beat Antonio Rogerio Nogueira via unanimous decision in his last outing © Getty Images

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Ryan Bader has revealed he is specifically training to avoid the spinning back elbow ahead of his showdown with Jon Jones at UFC 126.

The pair meet in a hugely-anticipated light-heavyweight tussle between two fighters who, barring a disqualification on the record of Jones, are both undefeated.

Bader arguably has the more significant scalps under his belt, having beaten Keith Jardine and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, but it is Jones who enters as favourite due to the emphatic manner of his first-round stoppages of Brandon Vera and Vladimir Matyushenko.

However, the defining moment of Jones' career remains the spinning back elbow that floored Stephen Bonnar at the start of 2009, and Bader admits he has had to introduce new sparring partners to counter the threat of the 6ft 4in American, who boasts an 84.5in reach.

"We've brought in taller, lankier people as training partners, we've been drilling some unorthodox stuff like spinning back elbows, all that kind of stuff," Bader told ESPN. "We've been working on getting inside, you know, fighting the fight that I want to fight. I want to impose my will on him. We've been trying to emulate him as much as possible, but it's hard.

"He's a very good fighter, he's up there, but he's right about where he should be. Whoever wins deserves title contention. This fight will prove a lot for one of us."

Neither Bader nor Jones has had a bad word to say about each other in the build-up to the February 5 encounter, and Bader admits he is not interested in wasting his time doing his talking outside the Octagon.

"I met him at one of the UFCs and he seems a nice guy," commented Bader. "I've got nothing against him. I don't like to smack talk a lot, we're both in the fight, so why talk about it?"

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