Eryk Anders announced on Instagram that he’s now facing LFA champion Markus Perez instead of John Phillips at UFC Fight Night 123 on Dec. 9.
Perez (9-0) is coming off a first-round submission victory over Ian Heniech at LFA 22 in September where he captured the promotions vacant middleweight title. The 27-year-old makes his UFC debut in just his second fight in the United States. Anders (9-0) heads into this matchup off an impressive UFC debut where he knocked out Rafael Natal at UFC on FOX 25 in July. The 30-year-old has only gone the distance twice in his nine-fight career. Here’s an updated look at the card.
Cub Swanson vs. Brian Ortega
Liz Carmouche vs. Alexis Davis
Scott Holtzman vs. Darrell Horcher
Eryk Anders vs. Markus Perez
Trevin Giles vs. Antonio Braga Neto
Carls John de Tomas vs. Alex Perez
Chris Gruetzemacher vs. Davi Ramos
Bryan Caraway vs. Luke Sanders
Merab Dvalishvili vs. Frankie Saenz
Benito Lopez vs. Albert Morales
Aljamain Sterling vs. Rani Yahya
Tournament bouts set for Rizin FF 8 on Dec. 29
Manel Kape vs. Ian McCall – bantamweight grand prix quarterfinal (bracket A)
Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Gabriel Oliveira – bantamweight grand prix quarterfinal (bracket A)
Takafumi Otsuka vs. Khalid Taha – bantamweight grand prix quarterfinal (bracket B)
Shintaro Ishiwatari vs. Kevin Petshi – bantamweight grand prix quarterfinal (bracket B)
Anthony Birchak vs. Jae Hoon Moon – bantamweight grand prix quarterfinal reserve bout
Karl Albrektsson vs. Jiri Prochazka