Corey Anderson explains why he deserves title shot before Dominick Reyes

Corey Anderson and Dominick Reyes are two of the top contenders in the UFC light heavyweight division. Both have arguably earned the opportunity to fight the champion, Jon Jones.

Only one of them, of course, will get the call to do so next.

Speaking to the media after he knocked out the highly hyped Johnny Walker on the UFC 244 undercard, Anderson explained why he deserves the opportunity before Reyes.

In his eyes, his win over Walker is more valuable than Reyes’ recent win over former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman.

“My case is he knocked out Chris Weidman, and I just knocked out the hype train,” Anderson said when asked to explain why he deserves a fight with Jones before Reyes. “Chris Weidman had how may losses in his last fights? Chris is my guy and I love him to death, we trained together, I helped him [prepare for] Luke Rockhold. Nothing against him at all. He’s a great mixed martial artist and I respect the hell out of him, but it ain’t like he went out there and knocked out a guy that was a hype train, that they were pushing to the title.

“Dominick Reyes, he had a slow build like me,” Anderson continued. “We’re probably in the same place. Chris Weidman was the champ, but the keyword there is ‘was.’ And right now, Johnny Walker is the guy they wanted to be the champ. [He had] that ‘it factor,’ and I destroyed the it factor, so put him back at the back of the bus and move me to the front.”

While Anderson makes a strong argument, he might be out of luck this time around. UFC President Dana White recently stated that he’d like to book a fight between Jones and Reyes next. 

“The fight that makes sense for Jon Jones right now is Dominick Reyes,” White told TMZ. “He just came off an impressive win over Weidman and a lot of people saw it. It pulled good ratings on TV. It’s the fight to make.”

Do you think Corey Anderson has earned a title shot?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 11/4/2019.