Bellator 288: Inspired by 'Rumble,' Anderson poised to prove he is No. 1 in MMA

Corey Anderson got an unexpected substance connection past month. The sender was his person and chap Bellator MMA combatant Anthony "Rumble" Johnson.

Anderson and Johnson had not spoken for a fewer months, but "Rumble" was known for checking successful connected his buddies erstwhile they were getting adjacent to a fight. This peculiar substance featured words of encouragement mixed with immoderate advice.

"Yo, support your hands up, nary mistakes," Anderson said Johnson wrote to him. "I don't spot this feline beating you, bro. It's your fight."

The 2 exchanged immoderate much texts and Johnson, whom Anderson knew was sick, said helium was "feeling good" and helium would "beat this." Last Sunday, Anderson recovered retired Johnson had died astatine property 38 aft warring an unwellness having to bash with his liver for much than a year.

Anderson said helium thought astir Johnson's words passim his grooming campy and they acceptable successful adjacent much aft Johnson's passing. At Bellator 288 connected Friday nighttime successful Chicago (9 p.m. ET, Showtime), Anderson challenges Vadim Nemkov for the Bellator airy heavyweight title, with $1 cardinal and the Bellator Light Heavyweight World Grand Prix title besides connected the line.

The messages from "Rumble" and his untimely decease made Anderson deliberation astir what the combat means to him not conscionable arsenic competition, but "more for life."

"Make it location to your family," Anderson said. "Make it location safe. ... Make each time your champion day, due to the fact that it could beryllium your past day."

This is the biggest combat of Anderson's career. Back successful April, helium was connected his mode to beating Nemkov and becoming champion, but an inadvertent clash of heads portion Anderson was successful apical presumption caused a chopped connected Nemkov's caput and the bout was stopped. The effect was a nary contest. There would beryllium nary crowning of Anderson that night, contempt the information that helium had been dominating the combat with his wrestling earlier the finish.

ESPN has Anderson ranked No. 5 successful the satellite astatine airy heavyweight and Nemkov is No. 8. Anderson owns a UFC triumph implicit erstwhile UFC airy heavyweight champ Glover Teixeira, who volition situation the antheral who dethroned him, titleholder Jiri Prochazka, successful a rematch astatine UFC 282 adjacent month. Prochazka has beaten Nemkov successful the Rizin promotion, but it was a combat Nemkov was doing precise good successful earlier petering retired during a Japanese-style, 10-minute archetypal round.

Anderson feels similar if helium beats Nemkov connected Friday, helium volition beryllium the champion airy heavyweight combatant successful the world. And determination is simply a lawsuit that tin beryllium made successful his favor. The Illinois autochthonal is unbeaten successful 4 consecutive since leaving the UFC and has 3 finishes, including 1 implicit existent Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader.

"How tin you not accidental the 2 champion are here?" Anderson said. "The 2 present fought the 2 champion determination and we already proved wherefore we're amended than them. Now, it's betwixt america to acceptable up who is the best."

When Prochazka bushed Teixeira for the UFC rubric successful June, Anderson was watching astatine location and turned to his woman and told her, "Yo, I would person dogged some of these dudes."

"I would person took them down and conscionable ground-and-pounded," Anderson told ESPN. "The mode I'm warring now, it's simple. I'm not going retired determination trying to beryllium exciting. I'm not disquieted astir pleasing the fans. I'm not going retired determination and striking with nobody."

Getting backmost to his wrestling basics has been the cardinal to Anderson's occurrence successful Bellator. In the UFC, Anderson said, helium was compelled to attraction astir knockouts and highlights and societal media followers. When helium signed with Bellator successful 2020 aft asking for his UFC release, Anderson told promotion president Scott Coker that helium wanted to get backmost to being himself. It's hard to reason that it has not paid disconnected for him frankincense far.

"I conscionable privation to win," Anderson said. "You look for a knockout to get the attraction and retweets and reposts, and each of a abrupt it gets you celebrated connected societal media. I don't attraction astir being famous. I attraction astir being a winner."

And that's wherever the thought of "Rumble" comes backmost into play. If Anderson tin triumph his fights by taking his opponents down and not taking damage, and tin travel location to his household healthy, that's what it's each astir to him. The information that Johnson reached retired to him with those words portion "Rumble" himself was warring for beingness is not mislaid connected Anderson, either.

"That meant that helium was a existent one," Anderson said.

Families feud

The co-main lawsuit of Bellator 288 is simply a lightweight rubric combat featuring a brace of well-known names successful MMA. Patricky "Pitbull" Freire volition support the loop against Usman Nurmagomedov. Freire, of course, is the older member of Patricio Freire, the top combatant successful Bellator history, a three-time (and the current) Bellator featherweight champion and a erstwhile Bellator lightweight champ. Nurmagomedov is the relative of all-time large and erstwhile UFC lightweight titleholder Khabib Nurmagomedov, who is besides Usman's coach.

The combat is simply a large 1 for some men. Patricky won the rubric successful November 2021, and it's the archetypal clip helium has held a Bellator loop aft being with the promotion for 11 years. He holds a ton of Bellator lightweight records and is tied with Michael "Venom" Page for the astir knockouts successful promotion past (10). Usman Nurmagomedov, meanwhile, is conscionable 24 years aged and trying to go the adjacent subordinate of his household and squad to seizure gold. Islam Makhachev, Khabib's longtime teammate, won the UFC lightweight rubric past period astatine UFC 280.