In 2019, Corey Anderson was apparently told he was deserving of a UFC title shot.
If you know the former top contender’s story, you’d know Anderson never made it to a title fight in his 15-fight run in the world’s premier MMA promotion.
Once in the top five of the UFC light heavyweight division, Anderson, who is now signed to the PFL, had a four-fight win streak. ‘Overtime’ owned victories over the likes of last weekend’s headliner Johnny Walker, Ilir Latifi, former champ Glover Teixeira, and Patrick Cummins.
Still, Anderson didn’t get a title opportunity against Jon Jones, who was the champion at the time.
Anderson’s win streak ended in 2020 when he lost his next fight to heavy-handed Jan Blachowicz by first-round knockout. Anderson never fought in the UFC again after that, and went on to win a world title in Bellator MMA.
Looking back years later, Anderson details the conversation he had with the UFC brass about what would have been the biggest fight of his career against Jones and why he ultimately did not get the opportunity.
Corey Anderson says UFC’s Hunter Campbell denied him title shot because of social media presence
Prior to facing Johnny Walker, who was a red-hot prospect at the time of their fight at UFC 244, Anderson spoke to UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell.
According to Anderson, Campbell agreed with him that he deserved a title fight for his win streak, but didn’t go through with it because of Anderson’s social media following.
“The way I grew up in the sport, it was about how good you were. Not how good your social media was,” Anderson told MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin.
“Hunter Campbell, when I left the UFC before the Johnny Walker fight, he had a conversation with me and he told me ‘We can’t give you a title fight, it’s 100% that you deserve a title fight, but we can’t give it to you because your social media isn’t there,’” Anderson said.
“It’s not about who’s the best anymore,” Anderson added.
“It’s about who’s going to put butts in the seats. The fans determine who’s the best fighter off who has the biggest social media [following].”
“You don’t even have to be good at fighting anymore…
“You’ve just got to have good social media,” said Anderson.
“Guys are getting title fights like Derrick Lewis,” Anderson used as an example.
“He got a title fight because he went out there and said, ‘My balls are hot.’ He got 2.1 million followers overnight. Guess what they did? Well, right now he’s hot so we’re going to give him a title fight because his social media is booming…”
Anderson’s follower count on Instagram currently sits at 133,000. It was much less at the peak of his UFC career.
Corey Anderson boasts impressive record post-UFC
Anderson is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters outside of the UFC today.
The prolific wrestler won the Bellator Light Heavyweight title with a dominant decision win over Karl Moore last year. Anderson aced his heavyweight debut in July, TKO’ing former PFL champion Denis Goltsov at PFL Africa.
Anderson is 6-1 (1 NC) since leaving the UFC in 2020. The 35-year-old has wins over former two-division champion Ryan Bader, Phil Davis, and Dovlet Yagshimuradov.
Anderson rematches Yagshimuradov for the vacant PFL light heavyweight title at the PFL Champions Series event on Oct. 3 in Dubai.