Las Vegas, NV – UFC heavyweight Jared Vanderaa takes yet another short-notice fight when he takes on Chase Sherman at UFC Vegas 58 on Saturday at the UFC APEX.
For Vanderaa (12-8) the last three bouts have meant three straight losses to Alexander Romanov, Andrei Arlovski, and Alexey Oleynik, respectively.
“The Arlovski fight didn’t go my way so that sucked. The Oleynik fight was going good until it wasn’t so that sucked. So I’m hoping to turn it around and just punch Chase until he’s like ‘Nah, we’re good’ and we call it a night,” Vanderaa told Cageside Press among other media on Thursday.
The Oleynik fight stands out for Vanderaa with the success he was having until the fight hit the ground.
“Old man strength is real. He’s just one of those grapplers that when he grabbed me I was like, ‘What the f*ck? Can I have my leg back please?’ I went in there on a week notice and I trained for all of his moves, but that dude’s just one of those guys that you need a little bit more than a week’s worth of training,” Vanderaa said.
“Mentally I felt fine. I actually enjoy short camps. So here I am on another short notice fight.”
Vanderaa and Sherman will be part of the main card on Saturday and the former has a theory as to why.
“Yeah because me and Chase are the best looking guys on the card. Of course. Heavyweight always look better than the flyweights we all know this,” he said with a smile.
Sherman (15-10) himself is riding a four fight losing streak with Arlovski and Romanov being two of the losses. It makes this match up make sense for both heavyweights.
“He’s (Sherman) just another dude that….he just has a punchable face. No disrespect he just has that face that I look at and I want to punch it at least once just to clear my conscience. I do think he’s very durable so he might take a few extra punches to the face, but I think this is going to be a fun fight,” said Vanderaa.
“Stylistically him and I are a fun fight to watch. We’re both strikers so that’s always fun. I think for the fans it’s definitely something to watch. I have no ill will, no hatred, no real complaints towards Chase.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 58 media day appearance by Jared Vanderaa above. The event takes place this Saturday, July 9, 2022 at the Apex in Las Vegas.
