In typical UFC fashion, lately they add another fight the week of fight week. Many of them have been prospect vs prospect fights. In all honestly they’ve been booking better Contender Series fights in the UFC than the actual Contender Series this season. Damien Anderson is our #19-ranked prospect worldwide. Ezra Elliott is a top prospect out of the MMA Lab, training with the likes of Sean O’Malley.
Anderson is coming to the UFC with a young 5-0 pro record. While he would benefit from more experience, he’s already 29 years old, so he’s in his prime years. Anderson doesn’t have many notable wins, but he does own a solid victory over Gabriel Wanderley.
Anderson comes from a jiu-jitsu background as a BJJ black belt. He’s competed in Combat Jiu-Jitsu, became the first fighter to score a knockout in the promotion, and was highly ranked in No-Gi competition.
Like many jiu-jitsu fighters, they seem to fall in love with their wrestling, and that’s often what leads to their downfall. With Anderson, he’s a perfectly good striker, so he doesn’t have to lean heavily on his grappling. In fact, every grappling sequence in his fights has come naturally instead of him forcing it to happen.
Anderson isn’t an elite striker or anything, but he’s much farther along than most BJJ athletes who transition to MMA. Anderson has light, quick footwork and does a good job moving in and out of range while using feints to create openings. He has a fast, piston-like left hand and throws straight punches with solid technique. He also puts together clean punch-kick combinations, mixing his attacks well, with his body kicks standing out as one of his most effective weapons.
Another problem with many grapplers is that their wrestling doesn’t always translate to MMA. I can’t say Anderson’s wrestling is that good because he really hasn’t had to wrestle much. Most of his takedowns have come after dropping opponents or when they initiated the takedown themselves. He does do a good job of shooting in, taking the back, and working trips along the cage.
If time is on his side, every time the fight has hit the mat, he’s found the finish quickly. From what he’s shown so far, he’s got a bright future. We can’t say how far he’ll go because there’s still a lot we need to see. We don’t know how good his takedown defense is or if his grappling is just as effective off his back. He’s won basically every minute of his MMA career, so how will he respond when he faces adversity? His cardio has looked solid, but will it hold up when he’s forced to fight at someone else’s pace and use more energy? I’m big on Anderson and think he could go far with the right development.
Click on “page 2” for Ezra Elliott
