Money is known to be the divider of many relationships, but it can also be a uniter under the right context, such is the case with Jon Jones and Corey Anderson.
When it comes to fighters’ pay, even individuals who have had bad blood in the past can come together and find common ground in an “us vs. them” environment. Jon Jones’s and Corey Anderson’s feud never sniffed the level of Jones vs. Daniel Cormier or Jones vs. Israel Adesanya, but there was a stretch between 2019-2020 when there was significant beef between the two, including a confrontation at a public signing.
After Corey Anderson’s release from the UFC, Jones and Anderson were officially off one another’s radar, and much of the public may have even forgotten their short-lived feud even happened. Anderson himself seems to have certainly moved on from it when talking about Jon Jones’s current negotiation dispute with the UFC. Anderson is placing the blame on the UFC for the fractured state of affairs between the promotion and Jones and believes that this is just the latest example of the company trying to short-change fighters.
“They kinda low-ball you, and they take advantage of you. That’s what it is,” Anderson said during a media scrum this week. “Just like you got the ’55 title fight going on. You got Charles Oliveira vs. Michael Chandler, but then you got Dustin Poirier, you got Justin Gaethje, you got plenty of guys ranked above those, but they’re gonna take the lowest bidder. Instead of going to the highest bidder, they’re gonna do everything they can to save the money in their pocket.
“And that’s what it is. They’re not gonna pay you your worth until you go out there and you have to either earn it…but sometimes you do that and they still don’t think it…or there’s no options left, and then it’s kind of like eh, OK. Your turn.”
Corey Anderson Has A Way For Jones To Be The Solution For Himself & Others
As a point of correction to Anderson’s comments, Dustin Poirier was, in fact, offered the title fight against Charles Oliveira, so the UFC did not opt to chose Michael Chandler over him as a means to save money. Nonetheless, his point remains that the UFC does not have the fighters’ best interest at heart when making business decisions. Anderson believes that one way to remedy this is by unionizing, and he believes someone like Jon Jones would be perfect to kickstart this idea.
“Now (that Jones) is trying to fight to get the money, now would be a time to throw out the union and maybe he would show faith and jump on it. And you get a big name like him, and we get some other big-name guys, some other champions that feel they can make more money, and that’s when the union would be effective. But as long as the little pawns of the organization, the guys in the #10-15 rankings or not even ranked and trying to jump in there, all they’re gonna do is cut you and bring somebody else in. But when you’re a household name selling tickets and putting butts in the seat, you jump on it, then they have to listen.”
Corey Anderson will be competing tomorrow night at Bellator 257 in the quarterfinals of the light heavyweight grand prix when he takes on Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov in the co-main event. As for Jon Jones, the world continues to wait to learn when or even if he will be competing in the UFC again.
Do you agree with Corey Anderson’s take here?
