The 28-year-old will fight Ryan Heketa in a non-title fight but it is an important outing for the MMA competitor.
He will fight Matt Vaile for the Xtreme Fighting Championship Australasian title in Brisbane on May 20 and Hammerhead promoter Matt Toa said tonight’s bout was a crucial warm-up for Anderson.
"Basically, what happened was he was supposed to fight in February over in Australia but his opponent got injured," Toa said.
"So he actually hasn’t fought since about November last year and, with this big fight coming up, we needed for him to get back in there and experience all the nerves and get the ring rust out.
"Not that we are taking this one lightly but it is just good for him to get back in there again."
Heketa, who is from Napier, has fought in Australia and shapes as a tough opponent.
"We’ve done a bit of homework on Ryan and he has got quite good credentials. His last fight was a title fight in Australia but not for an MMA promotion."
The other big bout tonight will see Dunedin’s Latham Stevens fight Auckland’s Logan Price for the New Zealand Amateur Featherweight MMA title.
Both fighters have represented New Zealand at the Amateur World Championships.
"They’ve fought all the same people, they just have not fought each other yet, so it makes sense for this fight to happen. They are the top two featherweights in the country at the moment.
"There is no favourite. It is a very even match."
There were 12 fights scheduled initially but the opening fight between Anne Wilson and Kerrie Sullivan has been called off.But there are still 11 fights for fans to get enthused about and Toa is expecting a good "walk-up crowd".
The kickboxing matches will be contested over three two-minute rounds, while the amateur MMA bouts will be fought over three, three-minutes rounds. The professional bouts are scheduled for three five-minute rounds.
