Corey Anderson’s goals don’t stop after the grand prix final.
Anderson challenges light heavyweight champion Vadim Nemkov in the co-main event of Bellator 277, which takes place April 15 at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif.
Anderson (16-5 MMA, 3-0 BMMA) will look to win the first major title of his career. But if he beats Nemkov, he’s wants to capture the heavyweight title, too.
“I plan on getting two belts, too,” Anderson told MMA Junkie Radio. “I said it after the last fight when I beat (Ryan) Bader: I want to be a double-champion once I get the belt here. I’ve got to finish one goal first. We can’t count our eggs before they hatch. We finish this one, and once we finish this one, we sit down with Scott Coker and Mike Kogan and everybody involved and we figure out the opportunity to go up – if we get more money, we get a bigger contract, a longer contract, whatever it is – and then we go from there.
“But before we start thinking about that or planning for that or even mentioning it, it’s about the contract and all of that, we’re just going to go ahead and finish this grand prix off, take my little time to rest, spend some time with my family and we get back to it. Then we’ll talk business.”
Anderson scored finishes of Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov and former Bellator dual-champ Bader to punch his ticket to the grand prix final. Being the last man to defeat current UFC light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira, Anderson thinks winning the grand prix would stake his claim as the No. 1 light heavyweight in the sport.
“The biggest thing I’m worried about is that light heavyweight belt,” Anderson said. “When I came into the game, I didn’t come in wanting to make millions. I didn’t come in wanting to win a grand prix. I wanted to come in to win the belt and say I’m the best. Right now, what we have in Bellator with these top guys, with me and Nemkov, the people I’ve fought, the people he’s fought, the people I’ve beat, with the champion of the UFC right now, I’m the last person to beat him.
“I win this, there’s pretty much no arguments or reasons why I couldn’t say I’m the best in the world. People are going to say, ‘Oh well you’re not in the UFC.’ Well it doesn’t matter because I already smacked the dude that’s the UFC champ. So for me, to get the belt, that’s the biggest thing.”
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