Anderson Unfazed By Dana White’s ‘Lying’

Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images

Light heavyweight veteran Corey Anderson parted ways with UFC earlier this month, hooking up with the gang at Bellator MMA despite a spot in the Top 5 of the UFC rankings and a fight contract that was good for another couple of bouts.

Not because “Overtime” wasn’t good enough to hang with the division elite, but rather because Scott Coker and Co. were offering a more lucrative contract with a flexible option for sponsors, including Anderson’s own brand “Beastin’ 25/8.”

“One has the UFC belt, one has the Bellator belt,” Anderson, 30, told John Morgan. “One doesn’t have sponsors, one has sponsors. One is only paying you a medium, when the other one is paying you your worth. So, to me, it was a no-brainer. I’d be stupid if I passed up this opportunity because I wanted those three letters in front of the word ‘champ.’”

UFC President Dana White had a different take.

“First of all, it’s the right move for him,” White recently told MMA Junkie. “This isn’t something that we’ve never done before. I think that he feels, and we feel, that he can be more competitive there.”

Anderson, not surprisingly, took offense to those comments.

“It doesn’t bother me that he’s still lyin’ on my name,” Anderson wrote on Twitter. “Anyone who knows me or knows MMA knows this isn’t true. But what doesn’t sit right with me is the people I consider close to me who have power that knows this isn’t true are sitting quiet. Just know I see you. That ain’t loyal.”

A date and opponent for Anderson (13-5) have yet to be determined but now that Bellator 244 is in the books and the promotion has a new 205-pound champion, it would not surprise me to see “Overtime” get booked within the next couple of weeks.