Austin Vanderford now must prove he can get back on the horse.
The 32-year-old Bellator MMA middleweight contender will step back into the cage for the first time since he suffered his first career defeat when he matches wits and fists with Aaron Jeffery in a featured Bellator 284 attraction on Friday at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Vanderford carries an 11-1 mark into the match. He last competed at Bellator 275, where he succumbed to first-round punches from Gegard Mousasi and failed in his bid to capture the company’s middleweight crown.