The Lowdown
Undefeated. Five pro fights, five finishes, four of them submissions. A Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt forged inside the most talked-about grappling room of the last decade. New Jersey born, Austin based, and now a UFC Bantamweight in everything but the weight of his first booking. Damien Anderson answers to “Demon Hands” and the paperwork backs it up.
Reverse-Engineering a Fight Career
Most prospects stumble into MMA. Anderson drew up a blueprint. He told Yahoo Sports that he refused to touch MMA until his grappling was world class. “I’m a very methodical personality type, so I just kind of reverse-engineered it,” he said. “It was like, if I want to try to become a UFC Bantamweight world champion, how do I go about doing that?”
That is not bravado dressed up after the fact. Anderson spent years as a professional no-gi competitor before ever signing a fight contract, building his name at B-Team Jiu-Jitsu in Austin, the squad founded by Craig Jones, Nicky Rodriguez, Nicky Ryan and Ethan Crelinsten after their split from the Danaher Death Squad. He earned his black belt inside that room, sharing mats with some of the best submission grapplers alive.
He even threw the first clean knockout in Combat Jiu-Jitsu Worlds history, flattening Adrian Madrid in 2022. A grappler with concussive hands. The nickname wrote itself.
Jersey Roots, Texas Address
Anderson is American, a New Jersey native who relocated to Austin, Texas to train full time. He never cut the cord back east. In January 2023 he opened B-Team’s first affiliate gym in his home state, juggling the launch with the start of his fight career. “I’m from Jersey, so all my friends and family live out in New Jersey,” he told CFFC ahead of his Philadelphia homecoming earlier this year, promising a crowd that would bring the roof down.
The business side runs deep with him. When Jones stepped away from competition to run the Craig Jones Invitational, Anderson was one of the team leaders who took over the Austin academy, rebranded as Simple Man Martial Arts. He co-hosts the Simple Man Podcast with Rodriguez and Crelinsten. Fighter, gym owner, broadcaster. All before his UFC debut.
Demon Hands Gets to Work
His amateur debut in January 2023 lasted 69 seconds. Anderson planted Cody Ortiz with ground and pound at Fury FC 73 and turned pro almost immediately.
The professional run has been ruthless. Five wins, mostly under the Fury FC banner in Texas, including a second-round submission of Gabriel Wanderley at Fury FC 98. In December 2024 he detoured back to pure grappling and choked out Sandrey Silva at UFC Fight Pass Invitational 9 in Las Vegas, a reminder that his base skill never rusted. Then came the step up to CFFC, capped by a wild submission finish of Hondo Gutierrez at CFFC 150 in Philadelphia in February 2026 that kept the perfect record intact.
Not one of his five pro fights has reached the judges.
Behind the finishes sits a striking programme built with muay Thai coach Elton Wells, a man Anderson rates in extravagant terms. “In my opinion, he’s going to be known as MMA’s best striking coach on the planet,” he said. Big claim. Then again, four submissions and a knockout from a jiu-jitsu specialist suggests the hands are catching up fast.
Four Days’ Notice
Anderson never hid his plan. Earlier this year he told Yahoo Sports his weight was already down and that if anyone pulled out at 135, he was hopping straight in. The UFC called his bluff in the strangest way possible.
As MMA Mania reported, Anderson makes his UFC debut against fellow newcomer Ezra Elliott at UFC Oklahoma City on 18 July, a bout thrown together on roughly four days’ notice. The catch: it lands at Featherweight, one division above Anderson’s natural home at Bantamweight. Elliott arrives with a perfect finish rate of his own, so somebody’s zero is in serious trouble at the Paycom Center.
A methodical man taking the least methodical route into the Octagon. Sometimes the plan bends. The 135-pound division is still the destination, and Anderson has spent his whole career making sure he arrives ready.
Damien Anderson MMA Record and Fighter Stats
Name
Damien Anderson
Nationality
American
Weight Class
Bantamweight
Date of Birth
4 January 1997 (Age 29)
Height
5’8″
Pro Record
5-0. 1 win by KO, 4 wins by submission
UFC Record
0-0
Recent Fight Record
DateEventOpponentResultMethod
6-Feb-26CFFC 150Hondo GutierrezW1st Round Kneebar
3-Nov-24Fury FC 98Gabriel WanderleyW2nd Round Heel Hook
2-Aug-24Fury FC 95Emmanuel CalhouneW2nd Round Rear Naked Choke
16-Jun-24Fury FC 92Marcelo ReyesW2nd Round Rear Naked Choke
5-Nov-23Fury Challenger Series 9Ray VaizaW1st Round TKO
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