Anderson ready for step up to UFC competition

• Published date: 06 November 2021

Fresh off a sixth consecutive win, the Dunedin MMA fighter has his sights firmly set on making the jump to the sport's elite competition.

Anderson beat Pane Haraki at the Edgar Centre last weekend, claiming the XFC's light heavyweight title to go with the middleweight one he already held.

It lifted his record to 15-3 and further cemented his current goal.

"At the moment it's kind of just about getting my name in front of the right people," the 32-year-old said of his UFC ambitions.

"My record at the moment speaks for itself. I'm on a six-fight winning streak, I'm the No 1 ranked middleweight in Australasia and probably the No 1 ranked light heavyweight, once they update the rankings.

"Now, it's just about making some noise online, getting my name in front of the right people. Hopefully, sooner rather than later the opportunity will come up and I'll be in there."

While he fought at light heavyweight last week, Anderson believed his future remained in the middleweight division.

Despite that, he was open to taking light heavyweight challenges.

Anderson still spends a lot of time in Dunedin, but splits it with regular stints training at Auckland's City Kickboxing gym.

That is the gym which produced talents such as Israel Adesanya and Dan Hooker, both of whom...