{"id":37058,"date":"2026-03-01T19:58:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T19:58:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Ryan-Gandra-felt-way-more-nervous-for-Contender-Series-than-UFC-debut-200301"},"modified":"2026-03-01T19:58:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T19:58:01","slug":"ryan-gandra-felt-way-more-nervous-for-contender-series-than-ufc-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/ryan-gandra-felt-way-more-nervous-for-contender-series-than-ufc-debut\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Gandra felt ‘way more nervous’ for Contender Series than UFC debut"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Ryan
\nGandra<\/a> was out to have fun at his
\nUFC<\/a> debut on Saturday. <\/p>\n

Gandra made his debut against Jose Medina<\/a>
\nin a middleweight matchup at
\nUFC Mexico<\/a> on Saturday at the Arena CDMX in Mexico City,
\nMexico. Gandra barely took a punch as he dropped Medina with a
\nflurry of punches and finished him in just 41 seconds. <\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Gandra (9-1) earned his UFC contract with a first-round knockout
\nwin over Trent
\nMiller<\/a> on
\nDana White’s Contender Series<\/a> last year. Gandra admits he was
\nway more nervous for his Contender Series appearance than for his
\nUFC debut. The 30-year-old explains that there is a lot more at
\nstake on the Contender Series, as it is an opportunity to make or
\nbreak one\u2019s career. Having secured a UFC contract, Gandra was just
\nout to have fun on his debut on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo tell you the truth, I was way more nervous in the Contender
\nSeries,\u201d Gandra said in a post-fight interview with the UFC.
\n\u201cBecause if you think about it, the nerves kick in because that\u2019s
\nthe opportunity for you to come into the organization. If you lose,
\nyou lose it all, you lose the contract, you lose the opportunity.
\nSo when I came here prepared for the fight, I just wanted to have
\nfun in there and just enjoy. Because I have a contract with the
\ngreatest organization in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trust the Process<\/h2>\n

Gandra revealed that he expected the fight to go the distance,
\njudging by his opponent\u2019s durability. However, \u201cProblema\u201d was
\nconfident of the work that he had put in, and it paid off
\nhandsomely.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never underestimate any opponent. I know that he is a durable
\nguy. I figures it was gonna be three rounds. He has fought some
\nguys with some really heavy hands and was able to sustain the
\nstrikes. We put in a lot of work, I felt really confident about the
\nwork that we put in. You saw what confidence brings. The strikes
\nwent in and Brazil came out on top baby.\u201d <\/p>\n

Gandra is undefeated in eight straight outings since his lone
\nprofessional loss in 2022. Meanwhile, Medina (11-7) has now dropped
\nfive in a row, including his Contender Series opportunity in
\n2023. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

“I got in there, I had a smile on my
\nface…I felt that energy from all the Brazilians”<\/p>\n

Ryan
\nGandra<\/a> (@gandra_ryan<\/a>)
\ndiscusses his epic UFC debut, halting his opponent in just 41
\nseconds<\/p>\n

Complete Prelim Results \u27a1\ufe0f https:\/\/t.co\/3UHRGfEGj2<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/awonTrr2DU<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 UFC News (@UFCNews)
\nMarch 1, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ryan Gandra was out to have fun at his UFC debut on Saturday.  Gandra made his debut against Jose Medina in a middleweight matchup at UFC Mexico on Saturday at the Arena CDMX in Mexico City, Mexico. Gandra barely took a punch as he dropped Medina with a flurry of punches and finished him in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37059,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}