Eryk Anders scored a TKO against Chris Weidman on Saturday at UFC 310, and the former Alabama linebacker beat the former UFC middleweight champion at his own game.

Anders took a ground-and-pound route to victory in a catchweight fight stopped by referee Mark Smith with nine seconds remaining in the second round at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

By that point, Anders had spent a good part of the round bouncing Weidman’s head off the Octagon canvas with a barrage of punches once he got on top of “The All-American.”

“I made a lot of life changes, and the difference is up here,” Anders said as he pointed to his head. “Physically, I can pack a match with anybody up here. But I’ve tossed the exes out of my life, quit abusing drugs, got custody of my son, Ya Boi got his hairline done, so you know, we’re good to go. Things are looking good.”

Anders and Wiedman were scheduled to meet in a middleweight bout at UFC 309 on Nov. 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York. But that bout was cancelled shortly before its scheduled start because Anders had food poisoning.

The UFC added the bout to the UFC 310 card, headlined by the flyweight title bout between champion Alexandre Pantoja and challenger Kai Asakura.

Anders and Weidman fought the rebooked bout with a catchweight of 195 pounds. The catchweight designation indicates the fighters met at a weight limit of their choosing rather than one of the UFC’s nine defined weight divisions. The 195 limit is halfway between the middleweight and light heavyweight designations in the UFC.

Anders overcame a left hook that put him on the mat in the first round on Saturday to raise his UFC record to 9-8 and his mark as a mixed martial arts professional to 17-8.

Anders posted his second consecutive victory and won for the third time in four outings. Last time out, Anders dominated the final round to post a unanimous decision over Jamie “The Nightwolf” Pickett at UFC Fight Night 238 on March 2.

Anders is counting down to his UFC retirement.

“I’m constantly evolving, doing everything to try to up my game,” Anders said. “I got two more fights, and I’m going to give them hell to the next two guys.”

Weidman has a 12-8 UFC record and a 16-8 MMA record in professional fights.

Weidman knocked out Anderson Silva on July 6, 2013, at UFC 162 to win the UFC middleweight championship. After three successful title defenses, Weidman lost the championship belt to Luke Rockhold at UFC 194 on Dec. 12, 2015.

Anders played football at Alabama from 2006 through 2009. In Anders’ final appearance — the BCS national championship game — his fumble-causing sack of Texas quarterback Garret Gilbert gave the Crimson Tide the football at the Longhorns’ 3-yard line while holding a 24-21 lead with 3:02 left in the game.

Anders led Alabama with seven tackles in the 37-21 victory over the Longhorns for the first of coach Nick Saban’s six national titles with the Tide.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.