Aaron Jeffery wanted to show off his Canadian wrestling, but a quick knockout of a recent title challenger will have to do.
Jeffery took his fight with Austin Vanderford on short notice for Bellator 284 this past Friday in South Dakota. Vanderford was looking to rebound from a title loss to now-former middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi. But Jeffery had other ideas.
Jeffery (13-3 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) shut down Vanderford (11-2 MMA, 5-2 BMMA) with a TKO just 85 seconds into their main card opener for an upset. The fight didn’t exactly play out like he imagined it, not that he has any complaints.
“It was short,” Jeffery said at his post-fight news conference. “I was just saying to my coaches I kind of wanted to see if I could hang with him in the wrestling and break him, but this is cool, too. … It felt different this time, maybe it was because it was short notice. Maybe it was kind of less pressure, even though it was a huge fight.
“It wasn’t a lot of time to prepare. I wrestle with the top university in Canada. I come from a strong wrestling gym. I felt like it was a good fight for me. … Knocking a guy out in a minute probably doesn’t do too much for Canadian wrestling, but I keep saying I can wrestle, so maybe one of these days (I’ll show it).”
Vanderford was No. 2 in Bellator’s middleweight rankings. Jeffery was unranked after his promotional debut in June, which was a second-round TKO of Fabio Aguiar. But considering two of Jeffery’s three losses came when he was trying to get to the next level on Dana White’s Contender Series to fighters who went on to get UFC contracts, it’s fair to say most were overlooking him against Vanderford.
It’s doubtful Jeffery will jump right up to Vanderford’s spot at No. 2, but he’s at least hopeful he’ll have a number next to his name. And he would prefer to get right back in there for some more action.
“I don’t know if they put me in right at No. 2, or if they put me somewhere arbitrary like No. 5,” Jeffery said. “We’ll see in a few days. … I know there’s still going to be haters, but this is big, man. That’s why I took this fight on eight days’ notice. I’ll get back in the gym and I’ll stay ready, and maybe I’ll get back in here soon. Scott Coker, put me on that (Bellator 286) card in Long Beach. Let’s go.”
Check out Jeffery’s full post-fight interview in the video above.
