Three days notice. An 18-pound weight cut, missed weight. Then a dominant UFC debut against one of the world’s best grapplers.
Ezra Elliot couldn’t have asked for a much tougher set of circumstances heading into UFC Oklahoma City, but none of it mattered once the cage door closed. Elliot put on a wrestling clinic against Damien Anderson, setting a UFC record for takedowns in a three-round fight while proving he belongs on the sport’s biggest stage.
“I was tired. Three days notice to make 145 pounds wasn’t the easiest,” Elliot told Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.
“A super game opponent. If he wasn’t so good at grappling I’d probably get him out of there. He’s ranked in the world in grappling, one of the best grapplers in the world, and I went and put a wrestling clinic on him. Of course, I’d like to show some more things in my skillset, but with three days notice, had to go in and try to break him as good as I could.”
Elliot knew he was in for a tough test against Anderson and had plenty of respect for his opponent going into fight night. That made the dominant performance in his UFC debut all the more satisfying.
“Damien’s super game. I followed him for years. I respect him a ton. Once I got the matchup against him I knew it was going to be a tough fight. I didn’t know exactly what the game plan was going to be,” he said.
Elliot also explained why he missed weight ahead of his UFC debut, revealing he accepted the fight on just three days notice and had a massive cut to make. While he came up one pound short, he wasn’t making excuses after earning the victory.
“45’s not hard for me to make. You can tell I’m not a very big 45er, but with three days to make 145 pounds, I had to lose 18 pounds. I lost 17,” said Elliot.
“Missed by a pound and I had to give up some of purse for it. It is what it is. Come out, still got the win.”
Elliot didn’t have anyone specific in mind for his next fight, but he made one thing clear, he’s ready to get right back in there. Whoever the UFC puts in front of him next, he’s more than happy to welcome the challenge.
“No one off the top of my head. I wish I had a name for you guys right now,” he said.
“UFC just give me another name and I’ll keep taking them out, and we’ll keep going. This is my first performance with UFC, I heard I got the takedown record in a three-round fight. That’s cool. Hopefully get to show a little more notches in my game and get to finish this next fight.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Ezra Elliot above.
