Eryk Anders celebrates a win in 2019
VIDEO: Eryk Anders plans to ‘impose will’, finish Gerald Meerschaert early at UFC Tampa
Eryk Anders discusses his upcoming matchup with Gerald Meerschaert this Saturday night at UFC on ESPN+ 19. The event takes place at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla. and will be headlined by a women’s strawweight matchup between Joanna Jędrzejczyk and Michelle Waterson.
“Ya Boi” discusses competing in the middleweight division for the first time in three fights, how his body and mind feels after taking four months between fights — which isn’t typical for him to take that amount of time from fight to fight — his weight being in a good place prior to the bout, how the matchup with Meerschaert became more exciting as time went on, spending time at Fortis MMA for this training camp, if this is a classic “Striker vs. Grappler” matchup as fans believe, his jiu-jitsu game being underrated, the challenge Meerschaert presents in the grappling and submission department, how he thinks the NFL season is shaping up thus far and much more.
Anders also discusses how he sees the fight playing out on Saturday in Tampa, especially with the takeaways he had from adding two weeks of training at Fortis MMA.
“I definitely learned to play with my hands up [at Fortis MMA],” Anders told MyMMANews.com. “Those guys are solid strikers with a lot of power and speed. If nothing else, my defense got better. I just think my cardio is now on a different level because of the way they push the pace at practice, the speed of the drilling and what not. I’m feeling good, I’m feeling comfortable, and I’m really confident in my cardio. I just don’t think that there’s anywhere that Meerschaert can beat me.
“I definitely see myself imposing my will on Gerald and getting that first round finish.”
Check out the full interview with Eryk Anders in the video above as he prepares to open up the main card of UFC Tampa against Gerald Meerschaert this Saturday.
