Los Angeles — Heading into his first title fight, as part of the light heavyweight grand prix final at Bellator 277 this Friday, Corey Anderson knows the key to managing his emotions.
“Just keep it simple, man. The biggest thing right now is just making weight,” Anderson (16-5) told Cageside Press in an exclusive interview. “A lot of people, they get real overzealous and start doing too much and start getting hurt, or they burn themselves out before the fight comes. Fight time, they come out just flat. They did so much all week, they were so hyped up.”
In Anderson’s mind, it’s like a young kid making their debut in a big organization. “And you see them, they say they had an adrenaline dump. I don’t think it’s an adrenaline dump, I think all week they drained themselves to the point, yeah you’re excited now, but once the fight gets going, you start realizing, I been wasting all my energy all week over-training, doing too much.”
And so, Anderson reiterated, keep it simple. The biggest factor? “The music you choose, I think. I listen to R&B, slow stuff, calming. Even spa music sometimes, just to help you relax in the room and take your mind off the fight.”
For Anderson, who faces champ Vadim Nemkov with a million dollars in prize money on the line Friday, the key factor in terms of his career over the years has been to trust in himself. As he put it, “the biggest thing for me is, I never doubted myself. So many guys, you can doubt yourself, and you start having your downfall.” Those doubts could be over team, or losses, or whether or not a fighter is done with the sport, Anderson added.
Some fighters might change the recipe up. “The fact that I had the recipe and I had the right team from the beginning, that’s what makes me proud. I didn’t have to sell out to go somewhere else, I didn’t have to do anything crazy to get a title fight, I didn’t sell my soul for social media followers and likes to get the title shot. I stuck to my game plan, and finally it came full circle.”
Corey Anderson will look to complete the journey, or at least take the next step, this Friday at Bellator 277 in San Jose, CA.
