On January 17th Eric Schafer will face Brazilian fighter and former prison guard, Antonio Mendes, at UFC 92 in Dublin, Ireland. The last time Schafer was in the Octagon was September 17, when he defeated Houston Alexander.
So what do you know about Mendes?
He is a decent striker, tough but not too powerful…
So is the plan the same as when you fought Houston?
Yup, get him down and don’t get KO’d
Do you think this is a tougher fight than Houston?
Yes and no, he is not gonna hurt me, but he will be harder to finish
Have you been sparring with Pat?
Sparred with Pat and Ben Rothwell tonight. They took turns, was not fun…
Any predictions?
Submission first round, haha
you compete in grappling tournaments quite a bit. Most guys tend to stay away from those once they get to the UFC.
A lot of guys are afraid to tarnish their records after a certain point. I like to stay busy to keep the ring rust off
How many have you done since your last UFC fight?
6 matches total, but I was injured for a month after the Houston fight.
Here is a video from 3 weeks ago


Holy cow! that guy should have tapped! Were people scared?
Well it happened in front of 80 kids and there parents so when he started twitching and making noises they were all a bit freaked… not the best time to not tap. That is one of my bread and butter moves though.
So while you were out in vegas you got to work a little with another SP fighter Amir Sadollah. What did you guys do?
We did striking and grappling, Amir is a cool guy.
Any last words?
Just that im looking forward to Ireland, it should be a lot of fun and I hope to put on a good show for everyone. I’d like to thank Sprawl, Gamma-O, and Knockout Brand Clothing for sponsoring me for this fight. I’d like thank Duke Roufus, Pat Barry, Ben Rothwell and all the guys at Roufus Sport for getting me ready for this fight. If your going to be there in Dublin be sure to make it out to D|two club where we will be celebrating after the fight!
We would like to recognize Sprawl, TapouT, DynaPep, Knockout Brand Clothing and Gamma-O for supporting the stars in the SuckerPunch stable. It’s sponsors like these that truly help evolve this sport.