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As reported by MMA Fighting, former UFC light heavyweight contender and current Bellator fighter Corey Anderson weighed in on the upcoming super-fight between Israel Adesanya and Jan Blachowicz.
UFC President Dana White recently announced that the promotion is set to put forth a champion-vs-champion super-fight between UFC middleweight kingpin Israel Adesanya and light heavyweight titleholder Jan Blachowicz.
Corey Anderson – who’s no stranger to Jan Blachowicz, having fought him twice – has asserted his disagreement with the UFC’s decision to book the matchup that’ll witness Adesanya move up to the light heavyweight division to challenge for Blachowicz’s 205-pound belt.
Anderson addressed the fact that top-ranked UFC light heavyweight fighters, Thiago Santos and Glover Teixeira, are set to fight one another at this weekend’s UFC event in what’s likely a title contention matchup for the next shot at the UFC light heavyweight championship.
Anderson added that he’s unsure as to why the UFC would announce the Adesanya vs. Blachowicz matchup in the same week that Santos and Teixeira are fighting for the number-one contender’s spot.
Corey Anderson expounded that the UFC’s aforementioned decisions would result in the winner of the Santos vs. Teixeira fight having to wait for their shot at the belt until after Adesanya and Blachowicz fight.
"Overtime" believes that in case the winner of Santos vs. Teixeira decides to wait for a title shot, rather than take another fight before a title shot, then the UFC will likely give the title shot to another competitor who is willing to fight one of the division’s top-ranked fighters.
Anderson continued that, on the contrary, if the winner of the Santos vs Teixeira fight chooses to take another fight before fighting for the title, they could end up being defeated by another fighter and thereby lose their hard-earned title shot.
“That’s just the way the cards fall in the UFC. It’s about what’s going to make them the most money. It’s not about what makes the most sense.”
Corey Anderson is looking forward to his time in Bellator
Corey Anderson was on the cusp of a UFC Light Heavyweight Championship fight against then-champion Jon Jones after the former secured an impressive knockout victory over top prospect Johnny Walker.
However, prior to a fight against Jon Jones, Corey Anderson competed in a high-risk matchup against Polish knockout artist Jan Blachowicz who ended up beating Anderson via first-round KO.
Blachowicz subsequently went on to beat Dominick Reyes to win the UFC Light Heavyweight belt that was vacated by Jon Jones.
Meanwhile, Anderson parted ways with the UFC and signed a multi-fight contract with Bellator.
Addressing his transition from the UFC to Bellator, Anderson indicated that he believes he's now free to fight in the grappling-heavy style that he’s comfortable in.
Anderson claimed that UFC President Dana White and matchmaker Mick Maynard generally refrain from granting grappling-heavy fighters like him a higher ranking in the organization.
He added that they usually grant title shots to fighters who engage in fan-friendly back-and-forth striking battles rather than fighters who prefer grappling-centric MMA contests.
Furthermore, Corey Anderson expressed his belief that it’d be different for him in Bellator. By this, he meant that simply winning would be enough to ascend the ranks, not competing in striking-heavy affairs in a bid to impress the organization and fans.
Presently, Corey Anderson is set to fight Melvin Manhoef at Bellator 251.
