Corey Anderson prefers to walk the walk rather than talk the talk and he knows for a fact that\u2019s affected some of the opportunities made available-and not made available-to him during his career.<\/p>\n
The last-ever Bellator light heavyweight champion was once ranked among the top fighters at 205 pounds in the UFC, but it seemed like he never got close to title shot despite impressive wins over fighters such as Glover Teixeira, Jan Blachowicz, and Johnny Walker. Anderson eventually asked for his release from the UFC before signing with Bellator and then eventually transitioning into the PFL where he\u2019s won a championship and most recently took out 2024 heavyweight champion Denis Goltsov via dominant second-round TKO.<\/p>\n
Despite all that, Anderson thinks he remains one of the most underrated fighters in the history of the sport and at least part of that comes down to marketing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never marketed myself,\u201d Anderson told MMA Fighting. \u201cI wasn\u2019t one to be on social media all the time posting stuff like \u2018I\u2019m going to knock this guy out,\u2019 posting sparring, beating guys or posting highlights of me training and fighting. I post family stuff. I\u2019m a family man. I post stuff around my house with my wife and kids.<\/p>\n
\u201cI post stuff with fighting very rarely. I\u2019m doing a little bit more of it now but especially now in the casual phase, it\u2019s all about what your social media looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n
While he\u2019s been a ranked fighter for the majority of his fighting career, Anderson doesn\u2019t have the flashiest, fan-friendly style and he\u2019s never going to be mistaken for a prolific trash talker. His r\u00e9sum\u00e9 speaks for itself but even getting a wins over hyped-up opposition, Anderson has rarely benefited from those performances.<\/p>\n
The clearest example is Anderson\u2019s 2019 knockout over Johnny Walker, who was being talked about as a prospect worthy of earning Jon Jones\u2019 attention. At the time, Jones was the reigning light heavyweight champion and he was desperately in need of new competition so Walker appeared to fit the bill.<\/p>\n
Anderson ended that talk after he bludgeoned Walker with punches to score a first-round finish, but that didn\u2019t immediately make him a household name by any means.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got these kids out there they see Johnny Walker\u2019s [social media] page. We know what happened when I fought Johnny Walker,\u201d Anderson explained. \u201cI meet kids at the gym these days and I have UFC shorts on or a shirt and [they say] \u2018Oh where did you get that from? Did you get that off eBay?\u2019 I looked at one and I said if you don\u2019t kick this kid out of the gym, did you hear what they just said? He asked if I got these shorts off eBay!<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know he knocked Johnny Walker out, right? \u2018You fought Johnny Walker!\u2019 That\u2019s the thing, these kids know these guys because of social media. The day and age of MMA and fans, they know you by your social media. So you\u2019ve got a social media with 1.5 million or 3.1 million like Johnny Walker, you\u2019re probably a superstar! They think you\u2019re the greatest there is. The way I grew up in the sport, it was about how good you were. Not how good your social media was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps the harshest lesson Anderson learned was during a conversation with UFC CBO Hunter Campbell just before he was preparing to face Walker in what could have been a potential No. 1 contender\u2019s bout at light heavyweight.<\/p>\n
\u201cHunter Campbell, when I left the UFC before the Johnny Walker fight, he had a conversation with me and he told me \u2018We can\u2019t give you a title fight, it\u2019s 100 percent that you deserve a title fight, but we can\u2019t give it to you because your social media isn\u2019t there,\u2019\u201d Anderson revealed. \u201cIt\u2019s not about who\u2019s the best anymore. It\u2019s about who\u2019s going to put butts in the seats. The fans determine who\u2019s the best fighter off who has the biggest social media [following].\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s little doubt that popularity plays a part in matchmaking.<\/p>\n
Look no further than the current buzz around Paddy Pimblett potentially getting a title shot against new UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria. Based on rankings and accomplishments, Pimblett hasn\u2019t necessarily earned that opportunity but he\u2019s a massive star and he has real bad blood with Topuria from a volatile interaction between them a few years ago.<\/p>\n
That kind of animosity sells fights not to mention Pimblett and Topuria are both legitimate draws with fans.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a fact of life Anderson has come to accept, but he\u2019s not going to suddenly try to change his personality just to get more attention, even if that means he might have to work twice as hard as the guy willing to play that game.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t even have to be good at fighting anymore,\u201d Anderson said. You\u2019ve just got to have good social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cGuys are getting title fights like Derrick Lewis, he got a title fight because he went out there and said, \u2018My balls are hot.\u2019 He got 2.1 million followers overnight. Guess what they did? Well, right now he\u2019s hot so we\u2019re going to give him a title fight because his social media is booming.\u201d<\/p>\n
With his latest win in the PFL, Anderson has positioned himself to compete at either heavyweight or light heavyweight and he hopes there are big fights awaiting him. Former UFC champion Francis Ngannou is probably the biggest prize available, but Anderson can\u2019t say for certain if that fight is actually a possibility.<\/p>\n
All Anderson can do right now is continue to work hard and try to make himself as unbeatable as possible to anybody standing across the cage from him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about time people put some respect on my name,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cI don\u2019t think they ever will but they should. You hear people talking \u2018Corey\u2019s this, Corey\u2019s still that, they overpaid.\u2019 What are you talking about? I\u2019ve been here 13 years and I\u2019ve never backed down from nobody. I fought every who\u2019s who there is but Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson. I\u2019ve dominated a lot of them. No, I\u2019m not flashy. No, I\u2019m not fancy. But I\u2019m not going to say no to nobody.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t care who the name is. When [my manager] Ali [Abdelaziz] called me with this fight [saying] \u2018brother, I\u2019ve got a fight for you.\u2019 Like who is it? [He said] \u2018it\u2019s Goltsov.\u2019 Give me a contract. You know it\u2019s heavyweight right? Give me a contract.\u201d<\/p>\n