Bellator 302 main event fighter Corey Anderson has been in this position before.
As he prepares to headline Saturday’s card for the vacant light heavyweight title, his focus is solely on becoming a champion.
Anderson meets Karl Moore from the SSE Arena in Belfast, Ireland live on DAZN.
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“This is everything I’ve always worked for,” Anderson said. “Anybody that’s followed me since 2014 when I came into the game. I’ve always said after every fight the win is nice, but I’m here to get the belt.
“That’s it. The money and everything’s gonna come and is great. The main focus for me is to get the belt.”
The 34-year-old from Illinois fought for the title back in 2022, losing to Vadim Nemkov. That bout was a rematch of their fight earlier that year that was ended due to an accidental clash of heads.
Anderson reached the Bellator World Grand Prix finals by taking out Ryan Bader and Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov. Overall, he is 17-6 with 10 wins while on the UFC roster.
Coming out of The Ultimate Fighter, Anderson reached the tournament finals. He finished Matt Van Buren to win the Season 19 crown and followed that up with a win over Justin Jones in 2014.
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He went on to defeat the likes of former champion Jan Blachowicz and Tom Lawlor before losing to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Jimi Manuwa. A four-fight win streak from 2018-19 was highlighted by a decision win in Germany over former UFC titleholder Glover Teixeira.
In 2020, he joined Bellator and stopped Melvin Manhoef in the second round. Anderson is coming off a decision win over former Bellator champion Phil Davis last June.
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Anderson knows he will be the villain come fight night, as Moore is competing in his home country. But that is nothing new for him. He has squared off with both Rua and Bader in their hometowns.
“I love it,” he said. “I just like that it is gonna be electric and I feed off that because it’s gonna be negative towards me. That’s when I show my best.
“Man, I’m just pretty focused right now. Everybody keeps asking me how excited you are, how nervous you are. The main thing is I’m focused, locked in.”
Bellator 302 Fight Card
The lineup also includes Patricio Pitbull defending his featherweight title against Jeremy Kennedy. Fabian Edwards returns vs. Aaron Jeffery and James Gallagher meets Leandro Higo.
This marks the first Bellator event since the promotion was purchased by PFL last year. It will be the second visit to Belfast.
