Corey Anderson has won three straight fights in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight division against top-level competition such as Glover Teixiera, Ilir Latifi and Patrick Cummins, good enough to put at No. 7 on the official UFC rankings.
Still, his latest body of impressive work hasn’t done much to put him in the championship discussion.
Anderson was seemingly on the cusp of scoring a big fight against Alexander Gustafsson, who recently fought for the title and came up short against division king Jon Jones for the second time. That fight was taken from him in the blink of an eye, as UFC matchmakers changed course and awarded the matchup to Anthony Smith, who also recently got worked by “Bones.”
Needles to say, that move didn’t sit too well with “Overtime.”
“I was talking to Ali, and I guess they wanted the fight to go or whatever, saying ‘If Corey beat Gus he’s the No. 1 contender.’ And all of a sudden they gave him the other guy that just fought for a title,” said Corey on a recent interview on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show.
To hear Corey tell it, he’s done being the forgotten man in the division and is done taking “dumb” fights that aren’t getting him any closer to a shot at the title. Case in point, he revealed he was recently offered a chance to welcome former Middleweight champion Luke Rockhold to the 205-pound weight class at UFC 238 on June 8, in Chicago.
“So now it’s like, what’s going on? I don’t think the winner of that fight the title shot because they just fought and both lost. But I wouldn’t put it past them. So then they called me a couple of days later to fight Luke Rockhold in Chicago,” he added. “Okay, so ill just dominated three top 10 guys, proven what I need to get to the title fight but they’re calling me to fight Luke Rockhold? A 185’e who just got knocked out? He’s not getting a title fight anytime soon, so why do they want me to fight him?”
“They think I’m just a number, think I’m just going to be here to fill in fights. That’s not where I’m at anymore. I have a family now and I’m not her to just fight to fight. I’m not fighting for myself, or for fun. I got to support my family and my goals. My goals are to get the belt,” said a very spirited Anderson.
“I don’t plan on fighting forever, so if I keep taking these dumb fights or just any fights, I’m just going to be here fighting, and fighting and fighting. I will have fought 30 more times and gotten no closer to a title fight because I’m just taking whatever fight they throw to me.”
It wasn’t until after his baby was born that Corey says he is done being a “yes man” and will be smarter when approaching his next matchups. And if that means drawing the ire of UFC and even his release from the promotion, then so be it. That’s because he feels he has nothing to prove and has done enough to warrant bigger fights and an eventual title fight.
Still, it’s not like he’s asking for a release from the promotion, he just wants a little bit more R-E-S-P-E-C-T. And perhaps a showdown agaisnt Dominick Reyes, who recently defeated Volkan Oezdemir at UFC Fight Night 147 this past Saturday (March 16, 2019) in London, England.
So @DomReyes….. June in Chicago? Or July in Vegas?! @AliAbdelaziz00 @danawhite @ufc @Mickmaynard2 it only make sense at this point. #ufc238 #internationalfightweek #ufc
— Corey Anderson UFC (@CoreyA_MMA) March 18, 2019
We like the way you think, Corey.