Luke Sanders talks with UFC’s Megan Olivi following his submission win over Maximo Blanco in his UFC debut Sunday night in Boston. Sanders was the reigning RFA bantamweight (135 lbs.) champion when he got the call on short notice to fight Blanco at 145-pounds. Sanders dropped Blanco twice in the first round before submitting him with a rear-naked choke at the 3:38 mark. The 30-year-old Nashvillian made his pro MMA debut in Strikeforce in 2011 and is now 11-0 after Sunday’s performance.
UFC jitters? Forget about it. Sanders has been in main events on TV before and at this point in his career seemed right at home making his Octagon debut on FOX Sports 1. Was he hesitant to take the fight on less than two weeks notice and up a weight class? Sanders says he would have fought at 155-pounds or even against a gorilla had they asked him, as long as he finally got to see his dream of fighting in the UFC Octagon come to reality. Listen in as Sanders talks about it in this post fight scrum courtesy MMAFighting.
Watch how Luke got it done against Blanco below.
1st RD knockdown + submission finish? Now THAT is how you make a @UFC debut! Well done, @CoolHandMMA. #UFCBoston https://t.co/WKTtECP9s3
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) January 18, 2016
See full UFC Fight Night Boston results and commentary.