Austin Vanderford understands the significance of what his fight at Bellator 234 means for his overall career prospects.

That’s why Vanderford (8-0 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) is taking his middleweight matchup with Grachik Bozinyan (10-3 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) extremely seriously. No one outside the most hardcore of fans know of the Russian, but Vanderford said he’s done his homework.

“I think this is definitely the toughest guy I’ve fought so far,” Vanderford told MMA Junkie. “It’s going to be the toughest fight of my career. He’s a very skilled fighter, a tough fighter and he has a lot of finishes on his resume. I’m going into the fight with that in mind and with that, I’m going to be the most prepared and ready Austin there is.”

Vanderford is the more recognizable name in the matchup with Bozinyan at Bellator 234, which takes place Thursday (and airs via tape-delay Friday on Paramount) from Menora Mivtachim Arena in Tel Aviv, Israel. However, he’s also the one with more to lose, and he’s trained hard to ensure a misstep doesn’t occur.

Thus far, Vanderford’s Bellator run has been smooth. He’s picked up stoppage wins in his two fights since debuting with the promotion in February, and making it 3-0 under the Bellator banner is when some real momentum could start to pick up.

“I’ve had a good couple showings, I’ve got a couple finishes and I’m just kind of looking to go off that,” Vanderford said. “I really just focus on taking it one fight at a time and they presented this fight to me like two days after my last fight and I jumped right on it and I was thankful to make it through my last fight with no injuries and jump right back into a fight camp and start preparing for this fight.”

Vanderford said he’s not sure how close he’d be to a title shot with a win at Bellator 234. He will only have nine total fights after the upcoming bout, and other 185-pound contenders have put in more work. Vanderford will ultimately let his performances decide his path, though, and he anticipates a good one against Bozinyan.

“We just keep going a fight at a time and I think I’ll keep going up in competition,” Vanderford said. “I want to fight for a world title. Every win you rack up I just one step closer.”