Middleweight Ryan Loder will compete at UFC Vegas 96 this weekend, part of The Ultimate Fighter 32 finale.
The card is set for the UFC Apex, a venue Loder has become intimately familiar with in recent years.
“It feels good. I’m normally sitting on that side, watching my teammates,” Loder (6-1) said during this week’s UFC Vegas 96 media day. “So it’s a dream come true to be on this side now.”
The feeling is far from surreal this week, despite that “dream come true” spot the 33-year old finds himself in. “It’s definitely real. Like I said, I’ve been on the other side of this, so I’ve seen this over and over and over again. And I’ve played it over in my head, I’ve put myself in these shoes a lot of times before. Being here on this side, it feels natural, it feels like I’m supposed to be here.”
Loder’s TUF experience was, well, tough, he later admitted. “It was tough, that’s for sure. It was great, it put me out of my element, put me in a place that I can grow a lot.”
“I think discomfort makes you grow a lot more, and I feel like that was definitely where I was. Valentina [Shevchenko] showed she was going to do a fight camp, like a real training camp, and I grew a lot from it. Most of my stuff comes from more of a wrestling base, and hers was a lot of Muay Thai style. Getting out of my element, training with people I might fight later on, and then becoming friends with them and learning a lot from them after that. And then being in the Apex, training here, I feel at home now.”
When it comes to the UFC Apex, Loder has coached in the venue before, and fought there twice now. “I feel like the Apex is a great venue for me to win.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 96 media day appearance by Ryan Loder above.
