UFC veteran Eryk Anders has had a lot of struggles with drugs in the past, but it seems the fighter has turned a new leaf.
In a recent social media post, Anders spoke about getting clean following his history with drug abuse and finally gaining custory of his son.
“It’s not like I was living under a bridge shooting heroin and smoking crack or anything like that, I was just like out partying doing God knows what at whatever time in the morning, with whoever and I’ve just always kind of been like that — even since high school,” Anders told MMA Fighting.
“I would even be doing all of this in high school, and I just always felt that as long as I made the workouts, and didn’t miss practice and performed relatively well, that it wasn’t an issue. I’m not the only one doing that, but obviously I’m a little bit older. I started to ask myself, ‘How much better could I have been?’
“Especially in college, like if I wasn’t up all night chasing women, drinking, doing whatever, because I never sleep. I just kind of rationalise. ‘Well, I’m not asleep anyways so I might as well go out and find something to do.’ And then I had court coming up for custody of my kids, so obviously, we stopped doing everything, but it was still going out and drinking or whatever. But then I just kind of had this moment of clarity after like three or four months: I was like, ‘Damn, this is what it feels like to not be hungover. This feels great.’
The middleweight fighter will be making his 18th walk as he gears up to face Chris Weidman at UFC 309. Prior to this, Anders has won eight of his past pro fights. He delivered a stellar performance after knocking out Rafael Natal at his UFC debut in 2017.
Since then, Anders has faced some of the best fighters in the world, such as Lyoto Machida, Thiago Santos, and Khalil Rountree Jr. Fourteen fights later, the fighter is making a comeback from the break and from the drugs. Anders reveals he has been sober for over a year.
“I’m not like a therapist or nothing, but for me it’s an easy choice and I just feel so much better,” Anders said. “Right now, I’m driving around looking for places to put a gym, something that I probably would have never done a year ago, actually like thinking about what’s next, so to speak.”
“It was just smoking, coke, pills, you name it, dude,” Anders explained. “You name it. Anything other than—like I said, wasn’t like smoking crack or heroin but kind of, you know, pill-form heroin, like opiates and uppers downers left, right, whichever way you want to go. I’m not even asking. You offer me some, it’s down the hatch, and we’ll play it by ear, you know.
“I think that a lot of people tell themselves that lie, and it was actually kind of glorified, especially in college. It’s like, ‘Oh, dude, Eric was out until five in the morning and didn’t even go to sleep and now he’s here at workouts, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,’ but in the grand scheme of things, it’s really not that cool because you’re just playing yourself. There’s just no way that you could perform at your highest level if you’re hungover, or if you’re actually even like, high during the workout or whatever.
“You just lie to yourself and everybody thinks it’s cool. But at the end of the day, it’s not really because I could have been better. There are some close fights that I’ve lost that had I been… I’m not Jon Jones, I wasn’t doing it the week of, but, if I wasn’t doing it at all, maybe, like in the last minute of the last round I can push more or, maybe I’ll just go into training with a clearer mind and get more rest, get more out of training so I can go harder in the fight or whatever the case may be. I know that you can expect to see the best version of myself on Nov. 16.”
Anders disclosed he was at an all-time low and was enjoying the attention he was getting, thus leading him to drugs. The fighter revealed his use of drugs spiralled out of control, and he lost custody of his son.
Since his rehabilitation, the fighter has a new perspective on life and is ready to make a new legacy for himself. Anders still has three fights left in his contract and is ready to give it all he’s got.
“I mean, everything has a price, you know what I’m saying?,” Anders said. “If I go out there, and I starch the next three dudes, and they come with me with a new contract and, I mean, money talks. I like money.
“So let’s see what happens man, to be honest, I still feel young. I feel like I could fight for 100 years but I’m just getting tired of having surgeries and that kind of thing. And I really love the life that this has afforded. In between fights, I can go and take my kid wherever on planet Earth. So obviously, if I open up a business that’s going to tie up a lot of my time, but it’s OK, because as much as I want to fight forever, I know you can’t fight forever.
“So three more fights, that puts me at 20 UFC fights. I think that’s a great milestone to have and a lot of fighters don’t get there, and that’s just kind of where my mind is at right now.”
The fighter said he was really grateful to UFC for reaching out to him to compete at UFC 309 although it was unexpected. Anders reveals he has been 14 months clean and is ready to face the firner world champion.
“It’s Madison Square Garden, that’s one of the most prestigious fighting arenas in America, if not the world,” Anders said. “They could’ve asked me to fight anyone in there, and I would have said yes. I’ve always wanted to fight there. It’s definitely on the bucket list for me.
“The name is just the icing on the cake—former champion, guy who knocked out Anderson Silva. So yeah, of course. How could you say no?”
He is scheduled to face former UFC middleweight title holder Chris Weidman on November 9 at UFC 309. The card goes down at the classic Madison Square Garden in New York City. The event will mark the promotion’s eighth visit to New York City and first since UFC 295 in November 2023.
