Robert Drysdale Remains Undefeated; Yet to Compete Longer Than 3 Minutes in MMA

Robert Drysdale remained undefeated with a quick submission win. | Photo: Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com

Drysdale, who was making his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut and had not competed in more than a year, handed Keith Berish his first loss as a professional with the rear-naked choke submission victory.

The win added to multiple impressive streaks for the 2007 Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling World Championship gold medalist, as Drysdale has yet to fight longer than three minutes and has finished all of his opponents by submission.

During his post-fight interview Sunday in the cage, the light heavyweight expressed how much it meant to finally fight inside the Octagon.

“I’ve been preparing for this day my entire life. I’m just glad to be here. It’s an honor,” Drysdale said. “I fight for my own personal reasons. I love the crowd, but the pressure I put on myself is myself. It doesn’t matter where I am.”

Drysdale’s UFC debut was supposed to have happened on two separate occasions: the 33-year-old withdrew from his UFC 163 bout against Ednaldo Oliviera due to a staph infection and then last October prior to UFC 167, the Nevada Athletic Commission refused to medically clear the Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner after a random drug test revealed an elevated testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio.