Corey Anderson Believes Bellator Has Superior Light Heavyweight Division Over UFC
Corey Anderson agrees with Scott Coker that Bellator has the superior light heavyweight division over the UFC.
Anderson is one of the names brought over from the UFC to Bellator this year along with more recent signings such as Anthony Johnson and Yoel Romero — both of whom will compete at light heavyweight.
Coker has long hailed his light heavyweight division and these recent additions only furthered his belief that Bellator had the best 205ers in the world.
And Anderson is certainly in full agreement.
“I just feel right now Bellator has the upper hand,” Anderson told MMA Fighting. “[Jon] Jones has left. They’ve got these hype trains. These young guys UFC has coming in they’re trying to hype up but I feel like their legitimacy aren’t like the vets that were there that are in Bellator now.
“… These last two signings they [Bellator] made definitely made it a stronger case. At first, I was in the UFC and I was No. 4 when I left. The only person I hadn’t fought was Jon Jones and Dominick Reyes. I had beat Jan Blachowicz once and Anthony Smith was above me but we see where Anthony Smith’s at now. He just got first win in a while against an unranked guy.
“Then you’ve got me, Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson, Yoel Romero, two guys right there that fought for titles. Me, who was on the cusp of a title. Then you’ve got [Vadim] Nemkov, who just beat Ryan Bader. You’ve got ‘Rumble,’ who beat Ryan Bader. You’ve got Phil Davis. You’ve got all these names who have already fought at the top of the UFC.”
Of course, the argument can be made that these fighters were only at their best in the UFC or their times were up with not much more to offer.
To that, Anderson points to the resumes and how many fighters can get cut for factors outside of being one of the best in the world.
“They say ‘oh these guys are washed up, they got cut from the UFC.’ No, they got treated wrong and they left,” Anderson said. “You’ve got to think about all the people who were cut from the UFC and came back to do what they’re doing. That kid Brandon Moreno was cut from the UFC and he came back and fought for the title.
“Being cut doesn’t mean nothing. You get cut for saying the wrong thing. You get cut for having a couple of bad fights. It happens. But that don’t take the fact that these guys are legit contenders or one of the best in the world.”
Do you agree with Anderson?
