Did Corey Anderson do enough to rise to the No. 1 spot in light heavyweight rankings after a four-fight start in Bellator? He certainly thinks so, especially since he holds a 2018 victory over current UFC champion Glover Teixeira.
Ask Teixeira about it, though, and he’ll say all that talk is nonsense.
“It’s water under the bridge,” Teixeira said on this week’s episode of Trocacao Franca. “Corey went there and was better that night [in 2018]. It was a bad fight, I lost a decision, [but] it’s a fight that could have gone five or 10 rounds and he wouldn’t have knocked me out or submitted me, wouldn’t have done anything. He stalled when I was tired. When I left, I didn’t have [on my face] marks. But Corey is doing a good job in Bellator. I root for him.”
Anderson beat Johnny Walker and Ilir Latifi in back-to-back bouts. After his win over Teixeira, Anderson parted with UFC after suffering a devastating knockout defeat to Jan Blachowicz. Since then, Anderson has beaten Melvin Manhoef, Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov, and Ryan Bader in Bellator before a recent no contest with 205-pound titleholder Vadim Nemkov in the tournament final.
Teixeira, on the other hand, hasn’t lost since that night in Germany. Six wins over Thiago Santos and Anthony Smith were his finishes. Ion Cutelaba was also defeated by Teixeira. Blachowicz won the UFC title in Abu Dhabi.
“If we have to fight again one day, of course I’m going to win, man. I’m way better now,” Teixeira said of Anderson. “I stayed in the organization and he was released, you know? After that, he lost. Blachowicz knocked him out. He got knocked out by the man I took the belt from.
“He’s lucky he defeated me and can say it, but, man, that doesn’t bother me,” Teixeira continued. I would prefer to watch birds sing. I won’t stress out over that, because that fight … everything is different today. That was four years ago, 2018. Now, I am the champion of all things. Where was I ranked back then? He was a loser, suffered his downs [in the UFC], and then he went to Bellator. But he is doing well .”
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Anderson, Teixeira stated, reached out to Anderson asking him if he would travel to Connecticut with him to train, but the timing was not right.
“I said I wasn’t training for a fight but he could come over,” Teixeira said. “[Anderson said] ‘Oh, I wanted to do some sparring,’ but I wasn’t training for a fight, I was helping Alex ‘Poatan’ [Pereira]. After Alex’s fight, he said that he would be there but didn’t show up. Then he began to say that .”
To bring it back Teixeira will need to either leave UFC to fight Bellator, or Anderson must return to the Octagon — both scenarios which seem unlikely right now.
The other solution would be another improbable plan: A co-promotion between MMA’s two biggest companies.
” It’s up the promoter,” Teixeira stated about a potential UFC-Bellator promotion. “Dana [White] is doing the right thing. If he sees the money, if he sees it’s worth it, he’ll definitely do it. He’s done it before and will do it again. Dana White is the right person to ask. “
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[Laughs].”
