UFC Fight Night 123 results: Eryk Anders dominates Markus Perez, calls out Lyoto Machida

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.

After the fight, Anders used his opportunity on the microphone with Paul Felder to call out former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida, now a middleweight, for a fight in Belem, Brazil, on Feb. 3.

Perez kicked high early, then went low hoping to create some distance. Perez danced on the outside with Anders stalking him. Thirty seconds in, Anders clinched Perez up, then defended Perez’s judo throw attempt. When they broke, Perez landed a knee, then tried the high kick again. Anders landed a counter right hand, then closed teh distance again rather than stay in striking range. They traded position on the fence and looked for knees. Midway through, Perez scooped Anders up and dropped him for an impressive takedown.

Perez squeezed on a choke attempt, but Anders worekd out of it and got back to his feet. He landed a punch, tehn ducked away from a spinning backfist from Perez, who laughed at the exchange. With 90 seconds left, they went back to the center and Anders landed a knee, then a body shot. He ducked under a spinning Perez elbow, then took Perez’s back standing. Anders chased Perez down late in the round and made it appear as if the second round might look a lot more like his UFC debut.

Anders came out like a steamroller in the second. He just missed with big punches, then 30 seconds in slid away from a cartwheel kick attempt from Perez, who again laughed it up – though Anders wasn’t amused. A minute in, Anders landed a big uppercut, then a follow-up, but Perez survived it and worked through. Perez fired off a couple kicks, but Anders dropped him with a huge left hand, then a kick.

Perez slowed down, then ate another left from Anders. With three minutes left, Anders landed a knee, then barely missed with a left hand. Anders swung for a home-run punch with two minutes left, and it forced Perez to shoot for a takedown. With 90 seconds left, Perez went to the canvas, and Anders followed him down for big punches and plenty of time to work for a finish. But Perez survived to see the third.

Right away in the third, Anders put Perez on the canvas with a combination, then followed him down. Perez tried to work out, and when he got back to his feet he had to eat plenty of punches. Perez looked exhausted, but Anders didn’t look like he had a ton of energy, himself. Perez held a one-armed guillotine, but it was mostly defensive to keep Anders from hitting him. Midway through, Anders popped out and worked ground-and-pound. With 45 seconds left, Anders went back to his feet briefly, but wrapped up the fight controlling Perez on the canvas.

Anders stayed unbeaten and moved to 2-0 in the UFC. Perez suffered the first loss of his pro career.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 123 results include:

• Eryk Anders def. Markus Perez via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-25, 29-28)
• Benito Lopez def. Albert Morales via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
• Alexis Davis def. Liz Carmouche via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Andre Soukhamthath def. Luke Sanders via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 1:06
• Alex Perez def. Carls John de Tomas via submission (D’Arce choke) – Round 2, 1:54
• Frankie Saenz def. Merab Dvalishvili via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Alejandro Perez def. Iuri Alcantara via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
• Davi Ramos def. Chris Gruetzemacher via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 0:50
• Trevin Giles def. Antonio Braga Neto via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 2:27

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 123, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan contributed to this report on site in Fresno.)