Las Vegas – UFC middleweight Eryk Anders, fresh off a TKO victory over Chris Weidman at UFC 310 on Saturday night, reflected in changes he’s made in his life and the impact he’s seen from fans.
Anders (17-8) has spoken publicly about sobriety and making changes in his life that not only improved him personally, but his fight career as well. Fans have begun to reach out to the middleweight in support of his work in sobriety.
“To be honest that wasn’t like my intention. I wasn’t trying to be like a beacon of you know help or whatever. It’s cool like people want to reach out,” Anders told reporters including Cageside Press.
At UFC 310 he faced former middleweight champion Weidman who is at the very tail end of his career. The fight was supposed to have taken place at UFC 309, but Anders fell ill after weigh-ins and canceled on fight night.
“I was thinking even before the fight started. I was like man I wish we could have already done this and got this over with, and I could go sit in the stands and be a fan. This my 18th UFC fight so I think everybody who like has anything to do with this knows the kind of person and fighter I am. I show up every time that I say I’ma show up,” he said.
“I don’t think anybody was like ‘yo he bullsh*tting, he faking’ or whatever. The doctor came and saw me. Everybody, Mick, Dana all them they already know who I am. If I pull out of a fight it’s something serious. I’m just happy that they were able to run it back and get it lined up and we do it so quickly.”
Anders, a former Alabama football player, played for legendary coach Nick Saban in his time there. Could the future hall of fame coach join Anders in his corner for a fight?
“I’m going to call him tonight and see what he’s trying to do. He’s usually busy on Saturdays you know. He’s got that Game Day, he’s got all this other stuff going on, but maybe for my last hurrah we bring on Nick to give that pre-fight speech,” he said.
“What happens in there, what he says in there (locker room) stays in there, but I guarantee he rallies the troops and get them ready to go. You look at his resume and his body of work. He’s the GOAT.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Eryk Anders above.
