Corey Anderson Believes Bellators Light Heavyweight Roster “Has The Upper Hand” On The UFC

In an interview with MMA Fighting, Corey Anderson said the latest two signings added to Bellator’s 205-pound division. Late last year Scott Coker and his team made the plunge and signed former UFC title challengers Yoel Romero and Anthony Johnson and believes it will do wonders for the division.

Corey Anderson’s thoughts between UFC and Bellator’s 205-pound division

“I just feel right now Bellator has the upper-hand”, Anderson said. “Jon Jones has left. They’ve got these hype trains. These young guys UFC has come in, they’re trying to hype up, but I feel like their legitimacy isn’t like the vets that were there that are in Bellator now.”

Corey Anderson also stated, “These last two signings they 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 his 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 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.”

Anderson made the jump to Bellator in August of last year and recently made his official debut with the promotion in November, securing a round-two KO/TKO victory over Melvin Manhoef at Bellator 251. Anderson has proven to be a tough nut to crack only losing one in his last six, that loss being to UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jan Błachowicz, who he also holds a victory over.

Yoel Romero was amongst several releases that UFC president Dana White had to make to cut down on fighters signed with the company. Corey Anderson thinks the UFC athletes who are on the chopping block would be a great addition to Bellator and sympathisers with those being released.

“It’s big names coming,” Anderson said. “That’s just making the legitimacy of Bellator, not just at 205, but the promotion with the moves they’re making, period. It makes them look very legit. The UFC is cutting ties with a lot of people, letting a lot of people go, a lot of the people that I feel shouldn’t be let go. That’s just making us stronger over in Bellator. Making us look even better.

“UFC president Dana White is always going to say his division’s the best. He’s going to say whatever he has to bag the reason why he had to let these people go, make it seem legit, but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter what you say. World champs or not, they were some of the best in the world.”

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