Former Alabama LB Eryk Anders suffers first MMA loss in split decision

On Saturday night, former Alabama LB Eryk Anders entered his UFC Fight Night matchup against Lyoto Machida in Brazil with an unblemished 10-0 MMA record.

He suffered a minor setback against the veteran Machida, a native of Brazil, losing the fight in a split decision.

Anders had never fought someone as technically sound as Machida, and while he performed well in the bout, the judges awarded the victory to Machida.

Now, Anders is 10-1, but after the loss, he congratulated his opponent, saying he’ll be back in the octagon soon:

Not happy with the outcome but if you leave it in the hands of the judges it is what it is. Congrats to @lyotomachidafw on a hard fought win. I’ll be back soon. Thank you the people of Brazil and my fans for the tremendous love and support.

— Eryk Anders (@erykanders) February 4, 2018

Anders is right — if you don’t take your opponent down, you leave the outcome in the hands of the judges, and the judges rewarded the veteran Machida on Saturday night.

Anders will likely be in another big fight soon, though, and it’ll be interesting to see what he’s learned from Saturday night’s loss.