Credit: Mike Fridley/Sherdog.com
Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the ESPN app. Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight Eryk Anders had a lot to say about his friend and training partner Walt Harris.
When Anders sat down to speak with media at Virtual Media Day, although he wasn’t wearing a mask, he was smiling from ear to ear. Riding his longest win streak since he joined the promotion in 2017, Anders was ready to take on Krzysztof Jotko on Saturday. But first, he had some things to discuss on his training camp, and more importantly, one man that helped him jump-start a pro career that began in 2015.
“Walt was my introduction to MMA,” Anders explained. “Very first day I walked into an MMA gym…I had being doing a little jiu-jitsu elsewhere but…I decided I wanted to fight. [Harris’] coach at the time, a very non-competent corner, he walks up to me and is like ‘hey, can you fight?’” Anders laughed, and admitted that he might have gotten into fights as a kid, he did not believe he had the skills to back it up.
“Just like every other bozo on the street, I grew up fighting…not skilled at all, that’s just how it is.” Anders continued, “[He said] ‘Ok cool’ and handed me a pair of gloves…no mouthpiece…and Walt gets in there.”
Throughout his story, Anders stopped for moments to laugh or remember something else about what transpired that fateful day. “He was my first experience with MMA, and needless to say, [for] about 4:57 [of a five-minute round] I was in the corner getting beat up. He’s got a giant heart, so in the nicest way possible, he beat me up, and I fell in love with the sport right then and there. I don’t think if I had that experience, I’d have an MMA career.”
This event will hold extra significance for Anders, as this will be the first time that he and Harris have appeared on a pro card together. They last fought on the same event in 2013, at Strike Hard Productions 24 in Birmingham, Alabama. Both men scored knockouts within seven seconds of one another that night, although Anders’ bout was contested in the amateur ranks.
“This is the first time since [2013] that Walt Harris and I are on the same card,” he said with a grin. “It’s a little bit extra special for myself, and I’m sure [for] Walt as well.”
For a short time, the smile disappears from Anders’ face when the subject of Harris’ stepdaughter Aniah Blanchard is broached. Blanchard was kidnapped and killed in 2019, and as a family, the gym including Anders took it hard.
“It’s kind of hard to ignore the elephant in the room,” he admitted. “Everybody knows what happened. I will say, him being in the gym, when he’s in the gym he’s one of those guys. There’s a lot of camaraderie that goes into this, we all kinda took that hit. His daughter was the babysitter of my children, it’s a little personal for everyone in the gym. Being with coaches and training, it helps you get your mind off it.”
Training has helped Anders and his team get through this difficult time, and it has also provided him some time to reflect him on everything.
“It would be ignorant of me to say that on fight night…emotions might be a little different. But right now, I think everything is calm, cool and collected. A couple of assassins are going to go out there and get some work in.”
The subject of the fight transitioned into how he is prepared for his matchup against Krzysztof Jotko, including his prolonged return to middleweight following a brief stint at 205. One of the major facets of his training is his weight cut.
“The weight cut’s never fun, but this is the thing,” he explained. “I’m down to fight whoever, whenever, I think the world knows that, the UFC knows that. But I think for my career, middleweight is the way to go. If I have to cut weight, I’m always conscious 24 hours a day. I’m a burger, pizza, sugar…beer kind of guy. The discipline I have to put in to cutting weight gives me an edge.”
He continued, “You put in all this work, you let your fight slip away like that. My fight at middleweight, I feel more locked in mentally.”
Anders spoke highly of his wife, who has helped with the diet and nutrition aspect of his fight camps a great deal.
“Anything with grease, meat…Before I met my wife, man, candy and fast food was like 80 percent of my diet. Gas station candy and stuff like that. I ate like a child. She really dialed me in and even aesthetically you can see the changes in my diet. The diet and nutrition is behind it as well, so the weight cut I’m not like dead in a sauna. I was trying to cut all the weight on the last week and I wondered why I had only three minutes of stamina.”
The scrum ended with a discussion about Anders’ athletic ability. As a linebacker for the University of Alabama Crimson Tide, Anders played a key role in his team winning the 2009 BCS National Championship game against the Texas Longhorns by leading the team in tackles and forcing a crucial fumble. Despite his time with college and a brief flirtation with the NFL, Anders does not place himself among the pantheon of so-called “super athletes” that leave other major sports to compete in MMA.
“I wouldn’t classify myself as a super athlete,” he was quick to say. “Greg Hardy, first round draft pick, super athlete…I would consider myself an athlete by trade. I’m not a guy who’s just gonna pick up a basketball and 360 dunk it. I’m not gonna pick up a baseball [bat] and hit a home run.”
Anders credited his work ethic for where he is today, because he feels that putting in the time is what has brought him to the next level and into the Octagon.
“For me it’s almost insulting to get cast in the super athlete category because I’m an athlete by trade,” he concluded. “I wake up at 5 a.m. to train. I was a guy who was up early, first in last out kind of guy, my whole life. When everybody else was asleep…even in high school, when football was over, I went to school early, lift weights, run, and do it all after school too.”
UFC Fight Night 172 takes place on May 16 at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. The event will be headlined by a heavyweight scrap between Alistair Overeem and Harris, and the co-main event takes place at women’s strawweight as Claudia Gadelha faces Angela Hill.