After winning the first 10 bouts of his pro career, middleweight Eryk Anders suffered his first defeat at UFC Fight Night 125 in February to former light-heavyweight title holder Lyoto Machida via split-decision.
For Anders, it’s not so much the damage Machida had done to win the fight, but the amount of activity the judges saw him have that put the fight in his favor.
“I didn’t get the results I was looking for,” Anders told MMAWeekly.com. “I think the key takeaway from the fight was seeing how judges score fights.
“During the fight I thought he was just basically putting his foot up there and touching me on the leg. In my head during the fight I wasn’t considering those significant strikes. He wasn’t doing any damage. There was a strike differential, but they were all leg kicks, and that’s how the judges looked at the fight.”
Since his loss was not a devastating one that exposed a potentially large hole in his game, Anders did not feel the need to overhaul his training, but more focus on upping his activity level for future bouts.
“I’m always consistently evolving my game in every facet of the game: whether it be on the ground, on the feet, or against the cage, wherever the fight takes place,” said Anders. “I would say more output. Throw more strikes. Go out and assert my dominance.
“I’m just moving forward. It was cool being undefeated. It gave the talking heads something to talk about, but at the same time I wasn’t under any extra pressure to remain undefeated. I just want to go out there and perform my best and get the W.”
Anders (10-1) will look to rebound when he faces Tim Williams (15-4) in a main card 185-pound bout at UFC Fight Night 135 on August 25 in Lincoln, Nebraska.
This article first appeared at News – MMAWeekly.com
