UFC Fight Night Tampa: Eryk Anders pips Gerald Meerschaert via split decision

The main card of UFC Fight Night 161 at Tampa got underway with a thrilling back and forth encounter between Eryk Anders and Gerald Meerschaert inside the Amalie Arena. In a very closely contested bout, Anders got the better of Meerschaert via split decision on his return to the middleweight division.

Anders takes the first round

The first round started with Anders landing an early punch and following it up with a kick to the ankle. Meerschaert connected with a body shot but got cracked with a short punch and went to the ground.

Anders wasn't interested in taking the fight to the ground as he let his counterpart get up. Meerschaert avoided the big left-hand shot from Anders for the rest of the round but could not avoid getting hit by a flurry of shots towards the close of Round 1.

Meerschaert makes a comeback

Second round began with both fighters opting for a measured approach. Meerschaert landed a nice combination followed by a vicious body shot. Anders shot back with the left hand and a leg kick.

The fighters traded solid lefts that connected and Meerschaert closed the exchange with another nice combination. With less than a couple of minutes left in the second round, Anders landed a left hand and a kick to the body.

The final seconds saw some explosive striking by the fighters as Anders connected with a head kick but Meerschaert came back strongly. At the end of the second round, the bout was tied with both fighters taking one round each.

The decisive round

The final round saw both fighters putting up a solid display. Anders hit Meerschaert with a huge left hand and Meerschaert retorted with a hard body kick.

They traded back and forth with Anders moving in for the kill, throwing a thunderous left hand but coming up short. Meerschaert countered and hurt Anders. Meerschaert pushed forward towards the end of the round but to no avail as the bell rang, pulling the curtains down on a thrilling encounter.

The majority of the judges scored the bout 29-28 in favour of Anders, handing him the win.