Heading into his UFC debut on July 22 at UFC on Fox 25, middleweight Eryk Anders wasn’t emotional one way or the other.
Having played football in college at one of the sport’s premier programs in Alabama, being on a big stage doesn’t faze him at all, and he’s able to perform as he feels he should.
“I feel I performed very well,” Anders told MMAWeekly.com of his first round TKO of Rafael Natal. “I made a few adjustments from the last fight to this fight that led me to go out there and get the finish.
“I really wasn’t nervous or excited before the fight started. It was kind of another day at the office for me. You have to take advantage of the opportunity presented to you. And then after I got the win that’s when the excitement set in.”
Now that he’s in the UFC and having defeated a 30-fight veteran in Natal, Anders believes he’s arrived at where he should be at the right time in his career.
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“I just fought a guy who just a year ago or two fights ago was in the Top 15,” said Anders. “It makes me feel pretty confident with the level of competition in the middleweight division and where I’m at right now. I think the sky is the limit.”
Having had just one month between his win over Natal and his previous victory over Brendan Allen at Legacy Fighting Alliance 14, Anders is confident that he’ll be able to turn right back around and have another bout or two by year’s end.
“I pretty much train all day every day and it doesn’t really much change in between,” Anders said. “Whether I have a fight coming up or I don’t, I’m always in the gym training and teaching. I can take short-notice fights and feel pretty confident in my preparation.
“I’d like to fight once or twice more before the end of the year. I told them I’m ready to go at all times, and whoever they put in front of me – we’ll take them on anytime, anyplace, anywhere – anybody.”
