Anderson Takes Shots at Haters, Including Jones
Despite Corey Anderson being a top-10 light heavyweight for a while now, there were plenty who didn’t consider him in contention for a title shot. But now with his win over Johnny Walker at UFC 244 two weeks ago, “Overtime” is firing on all cylinders at everyone who doubted him.
Anderson had been racking up wins since his UFC debut until he dropped three of four between 2016 and 2017. Despite winning three fights in 2018 against Patrick Cummins, Glover Teixeira and Ilir Latifi; however, no one considered his noise to be of any significance that would give him a future shot at Jon Jones. That’s why Anderson took the fight with rising prospect Johnny Walker at UFC 244, and Anderson needed just a couple of minutes to stop that hype train.
Jones, who hasn’t taken Anderson as a serious contender, did give him credit for the win over Walker, but the champion claims he would much rather fight someone like the unbeaten Dominick Reyes first.
Just finished a coaches meeting studying Dominick and Cory‘s careers. Established Dominicks definitely the more dangerous fighter. Beating his ass next 🦁
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) November 7, 2019
Anderson says he isn’t surprised, claiming Jones is continuing to duck him.
“I’ve been saying it since last year when I called for the fight,” Anderson said. “He tweeted me saying, ‘You want the smoke?’ I answered back I want it right now. All of a sudden, he started dilly-dallying around my name, calling other people out. He’s avoiding me. He called me out thinking I would hesitate. I want that. I need that. I wanted that when I came here.
Anderson added that he feels Jones selects his opponents based on a lack of certain skills. For instance, Anderson feels that while Reyes has great striking and power, he lacks in other departments Jones will take advantage of.
“All these guys he fights are one-dimensional,” Anderson said. “Dominick Reyes is a great striker, but he doesn’t have the best wrestling defense. He has OK jiu-jitsu. Thiago [Santos], we knew he was a striker, but that was it. We knew Anthony Smith, his only chance was if you gas out and you let him get you down or some [expletive], or he gets you at the end.
“But when you’ve got a guy like me who has the cardio, who has the striking, and has the wrestling the same or better than Jon Jones, as well as the jiu-jitsu that can match him, then it’s like, that’s a tricky fight — does he want that fight right now, or does he want to keep getting these easy wins, stack his bread and keep breaking records?”
While Anderson may have to wait until later next year for his title shot, he’s perfectly fine with waiting things out rather than give attention to anyone who wants to fight him now despite not wanting to fight him earlier. And Smith, who called Anderson out for his post-fight antics at UFC 244, is on that list.
“I called every single one of those people in front of me out from Jon Jones to DC [Daniel Cormier], Jan Blachowicz, Anthony Smith, Thiago, Dominick Reyes, I called them all out for nine months straight, and every single one of them avoided it. They said other names, but nobody said me, or they had to say, ‘I don’t want to fight Corey Anderson.’ Well guess what? I don’t want to fight you now.
“It’s my time. I earned this. So after I get my shot whenever it is, then they can come fight me for the belt. Come on. Until then you’ve had a whole year to say yes, and you picked every other fight. Dominick Reyes, they offered me him, and now all of a sudden his nose is broke. Two days later he was looking for a fight. Everybody tries to avoid me. Now I’m hot, and they want to ride my waves. Get off my coattails.”
Original Story: MMA Fighting