Jared Vanderaa expects to be ‘beat up’ Alexandr Romanov on the feet and get a gatekeeper next time out

Jared Vanderaa didn’t expect his next opponent to be Alexandr Romanov.

After Vanderaa picked up his first UFC win back in May against Justin Tafa, Vanderaa wasn’t sure who would be next for him. However, when he was offered Romanov he was surprised but he did immediately accept it.

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“I wasn’t expecting Romanov though. I have one win over Tafa who isn’t a top-level guy, but then they offered me Romanov so I accepted,” Vanderaa said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “I’m not scared of anyone. But, Romanov is 14-0 and 3-0 in the UFC, it should’ve been him vs. Aspinall or someone in that range. Maybe a lot of people are scared of Romanov and momma didn’t raise no b***h so here I am.”

Against Romanov, Vanderaa knows the undefeated fighter will try and take him down at will. However, he says he learned from his fight against Sergei Spivak and knows what he has to do to win this fight.

Vanderaa is well aware that Romanov will shoot for takedowns at will but he expects to b able to stuff them. But, even if he doesn’t, he says he plans to show his jiu-jitsu skills off his back.

“Romanov tends to just continue with the shots, he chain wrestles. He dives for shots, he relies solely on his wrestling. I’m doing a lot of wrestling defense, but Romanov hasn’t changed his style in so many fights, you never notice anything about his striking, he’s going to try and take you down… If I go in there and think that Romanov can’t be stopped that will cost me the fight,” Vanderaa said. “He got taken down himself three times in his last fight, you won’t see me shooting double legs, but you will see me do something about it. I don’t need to wrestle, but I can beat him up on the feet. I want to keep it on the feet but I am a black belt and can do stuff on the ground and I will show I can do stuff on the ground.”

If Jared Vanderaa can keep the fight standing he is confident he will be able to piece up Romanov and possibly earn a stoppage win.

“If I can get the finish, cool. I think the finish will come in the later rounds. If not, I need to do enough to keep him off of me and do enough damage that I win the fight,” Vanderaa said.

If Vanderaa gets his hand raised at UFC Vegas 39 on Saturday, he knows it would be the biggest win of his career. He also knows the heavyweight division is shallow so he believes a win here gets him someone with a name just outside the top-15.

“I think it really does open me up to face a gatekeeper to the top-15 such as Tanner Boser, Andrei Arlovski, someone in that caliber, maybe even Aleksei Oleinik,” Vanderaa concluded.

Do you think Jared Vanderaa will beat Alexandr Romanov at UFC Vegas 39?