LAS VEGAS – Jared Vanderaa knows his back is against the wall at UFC Fight Night 213, but isn’t concerned about the future.
If Vanderaa (12-9 MMA, 1-5 UFC) loses to Waldo Cortes-Acosta (7-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, he thinks his UFC tenure more than likely will come to an end.
But having gone through a love-hate relationship with fighting and a recent camp change, Vanderaa is just happy to be enjoying the sport again.
“Honestly, I haven’t really thought about it that much,” Vanderaa told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s pre-fight news conference. “I’ve been really serious about training, falling in love with the sport again that – I’m at a point where if this does not go well, I’m actually happy with training again. I think I will just continue fighting one way or another and just work my way back here. But I just want to win so much that I’ve kind of forgotten the contract. Plus, I think I’m cute enough to get another contract.”
Vanderaa is on a four-fight skid. He’ll be at peace if he loses to Cortes-Acosta, but only if he knows he gave it his all.
“You can’t hate on you going out there giving 120 percent and still coming up short,” Vanderaa said. “But what I will find failure in is if I give like 80 percent and I come up short, and I come up short by a point or something. That, to me, is failure. If I go in there and do everything I can, attempt and I fail – fine. I just cannot go over there and just question myself, ‘What if?’ Because if that’s the case, I might as well just leave out the front door f*cking right now.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 213.