Frustrated Corey Anderson refuses to deal in drama to earn title shot after UFC 244

NEW YORK – Corey Anderson knows he’s not getting the same hype treatment his opponent Johnny Walker has received over the last few months, but he plans on shutting him down and leaving no doubt over the identity of the light heavyweight division’s top contender.

With Dominick Reyes already sitting pretty with a knockout win over Chris Weidman under his belt, the stage is now set for Anderson and Walker to face off at Madison Square Garden with a potential shot at Jon Jones awaiting the winner should he get the job done in sufficiently impressive fashion to trump Reyes’ efforts.

For Anderson, it’s an opportunity to return to the famous arena and produce a better result after being caught by an Ovince Saint Preux head kick at UFC 217 in 2017.

“Hopefully this is my moment,” Anderson told MMA Junkie. “Last time I was here, I was doing great until I wasn’t. This time I plan on doing great until it’s over.”

Anderson admits he’s heading into the contest with a sizable chip on his shoulder after being told by the UFC higher-ups that his name doesn’t move the promotional needle, and that his lack of star power is holding him back.

“When I met Hunter Campbell and he said the needle didn’t move when they say my name, that’s when the chip sat and that’s when it got heavy – a burden on my back,” he said. “It wasn’t much of a burden through camp, though, because I’m using it as fuel. They want a dog. That’s what they want. So that’s what they’ve got.

“I’m not saying I’m going to go out there and be reckless, but I’m happy to go out there and kill somebody for me to get respect. And if he dies, he dies. It is what it is.”

The comments clearly irked Anderson, who said his resume warrants a bigger promotional push – and more respect – than he feels he’s receiving right now.

“I definitely took offense to it,” he said. “I come from a place in a wrestling background, where if you beat the top guys, you’re the top guy. You beat the No. 3 guy, you’re No. 3. You beat No. 2, you’re No. 2. And next is you work your way up to the title.

“I beat those top guys. I beat the No. 4, I beat the No. 3. I (expletive) mauled the guy that’s ranked third right now when I first got in the UFC and he turned down the rematch because he doesn’t want to lose again. So why am I getting punished to go back? Then when he said, ‘Well, the needle doesn’t move when we say your name. There’s no doubt about it, you’ll probably be the toughest fight for Jon Jones because you’ve got the cardio, the wrestling and the striking. But the needle doesn’t move when we say your name, and we’re in the business of making money.’

“There is a way to change it, but I accept the fact that I am who I am. I don’t mind not having a big following. I mind the fact that I’m being disrespected and they’re trying to keep me away from the title, but I don’t mind the fact that I don’t have the following that they want me to have. I say all the time, that’s fake friends. Fake friends and fake fans. The 50,000 followers I have now is because they follow me, they’ve seen me, they’ve met me, I’ve done something to entice them (to thinking), ‘This is a good guy. This is a genuine, good guy. I want to follow this guy because he’s 100 percent. He’s as real as it comes. He’s not fake.’

“I’m not a Jon Jones whistling Dixie: ‘Oh I’m a great Christian man. This, this and this,’ then get caught in a strip club and get in an accident drunk, smoking weed. I’m not Conor McGregor: ‘I’m the people’s champ,’ then go and punch an old man at the bar. That’s the stuff they like, the controversy. Just like our season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’ It ranked the lowest because there was no drama. That’s what the people like. This is a world full of drama. Everybody wants someone to talk about. Everybody wants to be gossip girls, and they want to be Internet trolls. If you don’t give them that, they don’t like it.”

Anderson faces Walker, a wild Brazilian striker whose UFC tenure to date has been highlighted by three back-to-back first-round finishes. But while the MMA world appears excited to see how Walker will fare against a top-level wrestler, Anderson himself says the recency bias with regard to Walker’s performances is clouding reality somewhat.

“He’s hyped, he’s exciting, he’s flashy and people like him because he’s exciting. And I think Jimi Manuwa was the one that said it – MMA fans’ memories are short-lived.

“If y’all look and research, the man’s been knocked out from one punch in two fights. He’s been choked out by a guy who’s just got in the UFC. And he fought Henrique da Silva, who was 2-4 in the UFC, and went to the judges’ cards. You all got short memories. They’re casuals. They see what they hype up. I blame the UFC.

“I posted the other day (about) the fighter I demolished, Jan Blachowicz. That was my third fight in the UFC, and I killed him. He made a post saying, ‘I have to go home and rethink my life.’ Not ‘my career’ – ‘my life.’ But nobody knows that I fought Jan Blachowicz. Why? Because it was a decision. If I’d have finished him in the first round, they would have hyped the (expletive) out of it. That’s just the way it is. It’s time for me to go out and do the same thing to Johnny. But they’ll just stop talking about him and they still won’t talk about me.”

With Anderson believing that his lack of controversy and lack of social media followers is key to his lack of title opportunities so far, he said the task in front of him now is a simple one, though he said he won’t change who he is just to get a title shot.

“I came to terms with the fact that I’ve gotta go out and kill everyone else in the division,” he said. “At first I had that chip on my shoulder, I deserved this, I earned this. But in this life you don’t get what you earned anymore, you get what you take and if I’ve got to go out there and take it from everybody, it is what it is.”