Former Alabama Linebacker Eryk Anders Moves to 10-0 in MMA

ICYMI, former Crimson Tide linebacker Eryk Anders has given up the gridiron in favor of the octagon. And boy was that a good move.

Anders played high school football in San Antonio, Texas before moving on to the University of Alabama. From 2006 to 2009, Anders played for the Crimson Tide as a linebacker, starting 14 games in his senior season. He was an intricate part of the Tide defense that won the National Championship in 2009. In that season, he finished with 66 tackles (32 solo), 6 sacks, 14.5 TFL, and an INT.

Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

After bouncing around the NFL, the Canadian Football League and the Arena Football, he decided to hang it up in favor of Mixed Martial Arts fighting in 2012. After several bouts as an amateur, he made his professional debut with a first round TKO inside of 40 seconds and he has not looked back.

Anders went 8-0 before moving up to the major leagues of ultimate fighting, the UFC. In July 2017, he knocked out his opponent in 2:54 of the first round. Last night, he faced a fellow 9-0 up-and-comer Markus Perez. The two lasted all three rounds but it was Anders whose arm was raised in the end in a dominant performance that came down to unanimous decision win. Anders landed 80 significant strikes to Perez's 22.

Eryk Anders did plenty to try to put Markus Perez away, but the UFC newcomer managed to always just survive him.

But Anders (10-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) did plenty right in a lopsided unanimous decision over Perez (9-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC), even if he couldn’t get a highlight-reel finish the way he did in his promotional debut earlier this year. Anders won with scores of 30-26, 30-25, 29-28.

The middleweight bout was part of the main card of today’s UFC Fight Night 123 event at Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif. It aired on FS1 following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.