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Corey Anderson argues why he deserves the next title shot over Dominick Reyes.
In a recent interview with TMZ Sports, UFC president Dana White named Dominick Reyes as the next challenger for reigning 205-pound champion Jon Jones. As the UFC exec pointed out, it is next matchup to make because Reyes’ KO win over Chris Weidman at UFC Boston “pulled good ratings on TV.”
Another potential title challenger Corey Anderson scored a first-round knockout of his own over the weekend at UFC 244 against Johnny Walker. During a post-fight media scrum, he went on to state his case why he should be fighting “Bones” instead.
“My case is he knocked out Chris Weidman, and I just knocked out the hype train,” Anderson told reporters (transcript by BJPenn.com). “Chris Weidman had how may losses in his last fights? Chris is my guy and I love him to death, we trained together, I helped him [prepare for] Luke Rockhold. Nothing against him at all.
“He’s a great mixed martial artist and I respect the hell out of him, but it ain’t like he went out there and knocked out a guy that was a hype train, that they were pushing to the title.”
Anderson sees a similar path as Reyes, but believes his win over a rising prospect who’s undefeated in the UFC matters more than a victory over an aging former champion.
“Dominick Reyes, he had a slow build like me,” he said. “We’re probably in the same place. Chris Weidman was the champ, but the keyword there is ‘was.’ And right now, Johnny Walker is the guy they wanted to be the champ. [He had] that ‘it factor,’ and I destroyed the it factor, so put him back at the back of the bus and move me to the front.”
If he does not get what he asks for, Anderson demanded to be released from his UFC contract.
“Release me,” he said. “You don’t want to give me what I’ve earned, let me go. I’m hot. I’ll go somewhere where somebody’s going to respect me. I think a lot of the people feel like you need the UFC. I don’t need the UFC.”
Dana White hasn’t been fond of Anderson’s rants, calling the fighter out for his “crybaby bullsh-t.”