Last night, in the main event of the UFC’s stop in Belem, Brazil, former football player and current UFC middleweight prospect Eryk Anders took on the biggest test of his career thus far in former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida. Unfortunately for Anders, the amply more experienced Machida proved a little too much to handle, and he came up short via split decision after five rounds.
While Eryk Anders has now tasted defeat for the first time as a pro mixed martial artist, he doesn’t seem to be too discouraged. In fact, he seems keen to treat this loss as a learning experience.
The middleweight prospect addressed his tough loss to Lyoto Machida in a quick and classy post-fight statement on Instagram.
It be like that sometimes,” Anders said in his thoughtful post. “Congrats to [Lyoto Machida] on getting that W. I’ll be back soon and with a vengeance. The Brazilian fans were amazing and showed a lot of love and support.”
For Eryk Anders, this loss was preceded by a perfect, 10-0 start to his MMA career. His last two wins occurred in the UFC’s Octagon, where he knocked out Rafael Natal and defeated Markus Perez by decision. In his last fight before joining the UFC roster, he captured the LFA middleweight strap with a decision defeat of Brendan Allen.
What do you think comes next for “Ya Boy” Eryk Anders?
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/4/2018.