Corey Anderson relishing grand prix spoiler role vs. Ryan Bader at Bellator 268

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Corey Anderson is no stranger to being an underdog and he can’t wait to silence the doubters again.

Anderson (15-5 MMA, 2-0 BMMA) meets former dual-champion and current heavyweight champ Ryan Bader in the light heavyweight grand prix semifinals at Bellator 268, which takes place Oct. 16 in Bader’s hometown of Phoenix.

Although the crowd is likely to be heavily in favor of Bader (28-6 MMA, 6-1 BMMA), Anderson recalls thriving in an underdog role not too long ago and he can’t wait for the opportunity to relive that moment again.

“I love going into enemy territory and hearing the boos and being an underdog,” Anderson told reporters, including MMA Junkie this past Saturday at Bellator 263. “I perform best when I’m an underdog because they want me to lose. They’re praying for me to lose, and I’ve got to go out here and prove them wrong – and I love that, to hear that silence. If you think back to my Johnny Walker fight (in the UFC), and I knocked him out, and I walked around: ‘Shhh.’ I love it. Keep on talking – I’m here.”

Anderson previously alluded that he got the best of Bader when they trained together years ago. When asked about it, Bader brushed it off. But Anderson thinks in a sport like MMA, practice should be taken into consideration, and he expects it to play in Bader’s mind when they fight.

“It’s fighting. This isn’t football. This isn’t basketball where practice doesn’t matter,” Anderson said. “This is fighting. You don’t let somebody just hit you and say, ‘Oh, it’s practice.’ You don’t let somebody take you down and be like, ‘Oh, it’s practice.’ You’re a man. You’re prideful. You want to hit that man back. You  want to kick that guy back. You want to take him down. So you’re going to do everything you can to get that back. But when you can’t, you know. It’s like, ‘Damn, this guy really got me.’

“You know in the back of your head and you’ve got to think, I was 25 and then I was 27. Now I’m 31. That was before I was ranked in the top 10. Now I’m No. 5 in the world, No. 4 in the world. You’ve got to think, ‘That’s time. That’s experience. I fought the champ.’ Now it’s time. Now you’re like, ‘Oh, sh*t. Damn. He did that then.’ He knows I’m getting better. There are a lot of things you know and you sit at home and you think about. You know, and that’s all I’ve got to say about it.”