Steve Garcia eyes TJ Brown or Damon Jackson after TKO win over Shayilan Nuerdanbieke at UFC 287

Steve Garcia doesn’t understand why he’s always the underdog and overlooked in his fights.

At UFC 287, Garcia was once again the underdog as he took on Shayilan Nuerdanbieke. Early on, Nuerdanbieke had success as he got takedowns and even dropped Garcia in the first round.

“He definitely rattled me for sure. He put a lot of power into that one and when he sat me down, it took me a bit to settle down,” Garcia said to BJPENN.com. “But, I was able to recover and start putting it on him.”

Although Garcia did get dropped, he felt he still had success in that first round which gave him confidence. As well, he knew Nuerdanbieke would tire out, so he felt the longer the fight went on, the better it was for him.

“Before the fight, we knew his trend was slowing down in fights. He’s very strong and has muscles on muscle so I knew at some point he would tire out,” Garcia said. “Even though he took me down, I wanted to make it uncomfortable for him on top, I just wanted to be frustrating for him and I feel that happened.”

Ultimately, in the second round, Steve Garcia started to take over and had Shayilan Nuerdanbieke rocked multiple times. Then, he landed a liver kick to the body and followed it up with a punch to the liver that dropped Nuerdanbieke, resulting in the end of the fight.

“That liver kick was the game changer and then the body shot with my left hand sealed the deal. I knew he wouldn’t be able to take two shots in a row to the liver so when I landed that punch, I knew it was done,” Garcia added. “I’m very critical of myself so I wasn’t happy he dropped me in that first round, but at the end of the day, I got the finish and I’m happy about that.”

With the TKO win at UFC 287, Garcia is now 2-0 since dropping down to featherweight and believes he is a dark horse of the division. With that, he hopes ot get a step up in competition and eyes TJ Brown or Damon Jackson next time out.

“I’m trending up, I feel like I’m a dark horse in this division but will continue just getting wins and just take one thing at a time,” Garcia said. “For me, the opponent has to match up with the pay. I am on my second contract so I don’t want to fight the highest caliber for what I’m making right now. But, I don’t know someone like TJ Brown or Damon Jackson makes a lot of sense to me.”

Who would you like to see Steve Garcia fight next?