Eryk Anders scores a TKO against the former UFC middleweight champion

Eryk Anders scored a TKO over Chris Weidman at UFC 310 on Saturday, and the former Alabama linebacker defeated the former UFC middleweight champion at his own game.

Anders used a ground-and-pound route to victory in a catchweight bout that was stopped by referee Mark Smith with nine seconds left in the second round at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

At this point, Anders had spent much of the round bouncing Weidman’s head off the Octagon canvas with a barrage of punches once he had “The All-American” on top.

“I’ve made a lot of changes in my life, and the difference is up here,” Anders said, pointing to his head. “Physically I can compete with anyone up here. But I got the exes out of my life, stopped abusing drugs, got custody of my son, Ya Boi got his hairline done, so we’re good to go. It looks good.”

Anders and Wiedman were scheduled to meet in a middleweight bout at UFC 309 on November 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York. But that fight was canceled shortly before it was scheduled to begin because Anders had food poisoning.

The UFC added the bout to the UFC 310 card, headlined by the flyweight title fight between champion Alexandre Pantoja and challenger Kai Asakura.

Anders and Weidman fought at a catchweight of 195 pounds in the rebooked bout. The catchweight designation indicates that fighters competed at a weight limit of their choice rather than one of the UFC’s nine defined weight classes. The 195 limit is halfway between the middleweight and light heavyweight designations in the UFC.

Anders overcame a left hook that sent him to the mat in the first round on Saturday, increasing his UFC record to 9-8 and his record as a mixed martial arts professional to 17-8.

Anders recorded his second straight victory and won for the third time in four games. Last time out, Anders dominated the final round, scoring a unanimous decision over Jamie “The Nightwolf” Pickett at UFC Fight Night 238 on March 2.

Anders is counting down to his UFC retirement.

“I’m constantly evolving and doing everything I can to improve my game,” Anders said. “I’ve got two more fights and I’m going to make them hell for the next two guys.”

Weidman has a UFC record of 12-8 and an MMA record of 16-8 in professional fights.

Weidman defeated Anderson Silva on July 6, 2013 at UFC 162 to win the UFC middleweight championship. After three successful title defenses, Weidman lost the championship belt to Luke Rockhold at UFC 194 on December 12, 2015.

Anders played football at Alabama from 2006 to 2009. In Anders’ final appearance – the BCS national championship game – his fumble sack of Texas quarterback Garret Gilbert gave the Crimson Tide the football at the Longhorns’ 3-yard line while holding the lead with 3:02 to play 24:21.

Anders led Alabama with seven tackles in a 37-21 win over the Longhorns to win the Tide the first of coach Nick Saban’s six national titles.