Tamdan McCrory stepped into a mixed martial arts cage for the first time in over five years back in September at Bellator 123 and scored the third fastest finish in a Bellator middleweight bout as he defeated Brennan Ward in 21 seconds.
The victory marked the seventh career win by TKO/KO for McCrory and it was his first win since submitting Ryan Madigan at UFC 96 in March of 2009.
McCrory (12-3) admitted on The MMA Report Live today that he had a blast in the fight and he had some pre-fight jitters the morning of the fight.
“I was super nervous in the morning for whatever reason,” McCrory said. “Getting those pre-fight jitters. I was talking with my coaches and my team. It was like, anytime you go out there and establish the jab and find your range, I can do whatever I want. That is exactly how it went.”
While he had the jitters during the morning of the fight, they went away as he got to the Mohegan Sun Arena to face Ward. It was his first fight since losing to John Howard at UFC 101 and when he walked to the cage, it felt like a homecoming for him.
The victory showed the entire mixed martial arts community that he is back and he will now meet Jason Butcher at Bellator 134 in less than 30 days at the Mohegan Sun Arena. Butcher has won five of his six fights in Bellator but McCrory has come in one realization about this sport when looking at his opponent.
“In my preparations, my time, and in my involvement in this sport, I have come to learn that records mean very little. There are plenty of guys with good records on paper but when they fight a true challenge, their performance is not as inductive of their record. I think that he [Butcher] has strung together some wins and he has done well. He has skills and their is definitely some parts of his game that I want to negate.”
“Ultimately, I feel I have the better standup. I feel that I have the better wrestling and my jiu-jitsu is certainly on par at this level to hang with anybody. It’s just a matter of keeping the gameplan and sticking with it, not allowing him to get the momentum. I saw the Mikkel Parlo highlights on You Tube and that guy is 5’10. I am 6’4 and if that guy could put hands on him whenever he wanted too, then it’s going to be a rude awakening when I get my hands on him.”
A win over Butcher should put McCrory in a great position in the Bellator middleweight division. At this time, middleweight champion Brandon Halsey does not have an opponent for his first title defense and their is no clear cut guy to be next in line. McCrory has his sights set on fighting for the title and wants to be fighting on the televised main cards, not the online prelims.
“I am not fighting because I want to be the king of the undercards,” he said. “I want the spotlight. Don’t get me wrong. Every fight is a fight, no matter what. You have a equal chance of winning and a equal chance of losing. It’s one or the other. One guy is winning. One guy is losing. No person you fight is good, bad, or lesser. You have to take every fight one step at a time. I am not interested in taking the easy road.”
“I did not come back in and say ‘you know what, let me find a hand picked opponent and wash off my five years of ring rust.’ They said, listen this is your fight. This is who you have and I said ‘great. I can handle that guy’ and I went out there and I did. That is kind of the approach that I am going to take to whatever. There are probably some more favorable matchups then others.”
“At the end of the day, the most important thing is to win, win big and keep moving up the ladder until that title shot is there and you have the belt around your waist. Ultimately, that is where I want to be. I am doing it because it’s fun but I want to be the champ. Why else do it.”