Vancouver – UFC middleweight Marc-Andre Barriault has been asking for a bout with Eryk Anders and he’s finally got it this Saturday night at UFC 289.
“I’ve been calling Eryk out for I think 4 years now. Back when he fought Lyoto Machida I saw his fight. He was more like raw, big dude, strong. Not the most technical, but with a big heart and he always goes forward,” Barriault told reporters including Cageside Press on Wednesday.
“That’s the way that I fight. Since then a couple times I called him out on media and he said ok, do your thing. Win some fights, and we’ll see maybe one day, and here we are.”
Barriault went and did just that. Now he’s got the matchup he wanted, and the chance to add Anders’ name to his resume.
Anders had mentioned that he expects to only fight a few more times before he hangs it up so getting a fight with him now is almost lucky.
“I think he’s a real gamer. We’re both good competitors. He’s from a football background. I played football myself a little bit too. I think he’s here for a reason, and I think we are at the same level of our career right now,” he said.
“We’re just looking for a good fight, one fight at a time, and that’s it.”
Fighting in Canada for the first time since 2019 Barriault wasn’t so sure he’d be able to fight in his home country again.
“At that time I was like more concerned about finding the right pieces that I was missing just to build my career and be at that level. I think my first two fights I was more like, not really in the right place at the right time in my life, so since then everything that happened, happened for a reason,” Barriault told Cageside Press.
“Now everything is perfectly aligned for me, and I’m super happy.”
Watch the entire media day scrum with Marc-Andre Barriault above. He takes on Eryk Anders at UFC 289 on Saturday night.
