At UFC Fight Night 123 in Fresno, California on Saturday, Eryk Anders made his sophomore appearance in the octagon, and made it count.
Eryk Anders was looking to follow up a big win in his UFC debut with another standout performance at UFC Fresno. Having finished Strikeforce and UFC veteran Rafael Natal in his UFC debut, former LFA middleweight champ Anders had a chance to make another statement. This time, it was against fellow LFA middleweight champ Markus Perez: the man who claimed the vacant LFA title when Anders jumped to the UFC.
That wasn’t on Anders’ mind at UFC Fight Night 123, however. Telling Cageside that the implications of the champ vs. champ bout had nothing to do with it, Anders was instead focused on climbing the ladder.
Once the action got underway, Perez immediately began working his kicks. Anders took a different approach than expected initially: clinching with Perez and looking for a takedown. It wasn’t forthcoming. Perez went high with a kick, then a second that was blocked. Anders answered with a big right hand, then again went in for a takedown. Perez was able to reverse, and looked for a double. He’d finally pick Anders up, an impressive display of power, and slam him down. He then worked for a choke, but Anders weathered the storm. Unfortunately for Perez, it was all down hill from there.
Through the next two rounds, Perez would throw a number of spinning attacks, frequently retreating, and trying to look away to throw Anders off. He missed every time out, however. Anders, meanwhile, turned things up in the second and third. With Perez tiring, Anders was able to connect with uppercuts, knees, and get the fight to the ground, landing plenty of ground and pound. When Perez was up, he managed to throw in a rolling kick, which while impressive didn’t really come close. He would be dropped by a left hand, chased down, and spent most of the final minutes of the fight covering up.
When the results came, it was clear, with all three having it for Anders. After the bout, the former football player called for a fight in hostile territory in Brazil, against former light heavyweight champ and middleweight challenger Lyoto Machida.
Eryk Anders def. Markus Perez by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-25, 29-28)
