Tim Elliott stepped in to replace Allan Nascimento at UFC Fight Night 233, and he will face a young fighter in Su Mudaerji. Yet, the 36-year-old fighter, who is now “running out of chances,” is excited about taking the fight even on short notice.
According to earlier reports, Nascimento was forced out of the bout due to injury. UFC, nonetheless, offered the bout to Elliott, who recently signed a four-fight contract with the promotion. Despite having less than a week to prepare for the fight, Elliott is confident about achieving the required weight.
“It’s a little weird not having to kill myself so much for this one, but I think it’ll make for a better fight, a more exciting fight,” Elliott said during the UFC Fight Night 233 media day. “I could’ve come in here and made the weight probably, but it wouldn’t have been healthy. I wouldn’t want to risk missing the weight class and not doing what I said I was gonna do.”
The American also expressed excitement in taking the fight, sharing his plans to win by consuming all rounds, just like his victories over Tagir Ulanbekov, Jordan Espinosa, and Victor Altamirano.
“Honestly, I want to fight for three rounds,” said Elliott. “I want to put on a performance. I like to have time in the cage. I like to get takedowns and break records. That’s the place where I feel the most comfortable in my life, is when that cage door shuts. The more time I can spend in there, the better I feel.”
Elliott described the decision to take the challenge as something that “just seemed right.” And given his age, the fighter knows that opportunities like this should be grabbed while they are still available for him. More importantly, it should allow him to explore the sport where he continuously discovers and enhances his skills.
“I would like to show the new skills that I have, and I haven’t really been able to do that in my last few fights,” shared Elliott. “I’m getting older now, and I’m running out of chances to really show how good I am and how good I can be, so I feel like Su is a really good opponent for that.”