Bellator 268: Ryan Bader aims to silence Corey Anderson, Vadim Nemkov defends belt

Ryan Bader has accused Corey Anderson of breaking the unwritten rules of mixed martial arts by talking publicly about their time training together as they prepare to meet at Bellator 268.

Former champion Bader takes on his former sparring partner Anderson as Bellator returns to the United States on Saturday, with the light heavyweight grand prix taking centre stage in Arizona.

They meet in one grand prix semi-final, while Vadim Nemkov defends his title against late replacement Julius Anglickas in the other.

There will be a face-off between the finalists once the dust settles after what is expected to be a thrilling night of action.

Bader and Anderson go way back, having trained together when they were still on the UFC roster - but their memories of that time differ.

Anderson, 32, was just beginning his career when he travelled to Bader's camp and recalls how his first session with the reigning heavyweight champion was a painful one.

"The first time I went out, I had one fight in the UFC. I remember I shot at one of his kicks and his knee grazed my eye, it cut me, gave me 20 stitches," he told BBC Sport.

"I went in the back, grabbed a wrestling face mask and came right back out and kept sparring.

"I came back out two years later and it was a completely different story. I had improved so much in those two years - imagine how much I improved in the five years since then.

"I know what I can do and the belief I have in myself. He knows I'm a workhorse, he knows I am going to keep coming, he knows. He knows I am going to be even better."

Bader, 38, is chasing the belt he lost to Nemkov a year ago and would be the first man to beat Anderson under the Bellator banner should he win the semi-final.

And he is unimpressed by Anderson's retelling of their training days.

"I don't know what he's getting at. Is it because he got a takedown here or there in sparring?" Bader replied when asked about Anderson's comments.

"I bring people in, I'm in the middle of training, I am dog tired. I get beat up every day by people in training camp.

"We had a back-and-forth sparring session. I don't know what he's taken from that. That was five years ago. If he's banking on fighting that guy, dog tired in the middle of camp, he's in for a rude awakening.

"And also, don't see a lot of guys going around talking like that because it's kind of an unwritten rule. You don't talk about training, of all things.

"He was a paid sparring partner. To go running your mouth like that, saying he did whoop my ass, which never happened, that's just a scumbag move to do."

Bader is confident of beating Anderson. "I believe it'll be a TKO somewhere along the way," he said.

But Anderson - who, like his opponent, has a wrestling background - feels there are weak points in Bader's game he can exploit.

He said: "I feel there's a lot of openings in his game. He's good at what he does, but there's a lot he's not that good at."

Elsewhere on the card, former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson is hoping to push himself into title contention with a convincing win over Brent Primus.

It is a crucial bout for Henderson - and a special night for him in another sense, as his wife Maria is making her debut for Bellator.

Nicknamed 'The Mouse, and with just one MMA fight on her record, she opens the preliminary card in a amateur fight with Collette Santiago.

"I'm pretty lucky as a man to have a wife who loves the same thing I do," Benson told MMA Junkie, external.

Maria says she will take guidance from her husband - who has 38 professional fights to his name - before making any move to turn pro herself, which she is in no rush to do.

"I think I'm pretty used to big fights with my husband just in general, and as long as you just keep thinking about - it's the same state, it's the same city," she told MMA Junkie.

"It's not really that big of a deal. I really don't want to think of it as big of a deal. Every fight is the same. You've still got to go in there and win no matter where it is, no matter who you're fighting."