Photo by Amy Kaplan/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Corey Anderson didn’t agree with Joe Rogan’s recent comments about fighters outside Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) “wasting their careers.”
Anderson, 34, has been one of the better Light Heavyweight fighters on Earth for the better part of the past decade. “Overtime” debuted in UFC by winning his way through The Ultimate Fighter 19 (TUF) in July 2014. He’d eventually move on to Bellator after first round knockout loss to Jan Blachowicz in February 2020.
Longtime UFC commentator, Rogan, took to his podcast this past week (Dec. 21, 2023) to express his belief that there isn’t much upside to competing outside of the worldwide leader in mixed martial arts (MMA). Having been on both sides of the coin, Anderson fired back on Instagram over the weekend (Dec. 23, 2023).
Now yall know I LOVE my guy Joe!
But as someone who spent 7 years in the UFC and left at #4 in the organization….. fans seeing me fight wasn’t enough to pay bills or even begin to set my family up for a future. My wife and I both had to have jobs to keep afloat in between fights until my first fight in Bellator. I always say “I make more money in Bellator”, well my last fight ranked in the top 5, and my purse didn’t even make close to 6 figures… that’s 100K… after 7 years, 15 fights, 13 top 15 opponents, and being ranked in the top 10 within my first year. (My debut fight I made 16k). Hell, even to go be on @joerogan podcast, I had scramble to find someone to cover for me at work to go.
Yet my first fight in Bellator I made 5x more and was able to free my wife of a job and focus fully on my career as a fighter for the first time ever.
SOOOOO what good is it to have a fan base when I still have to work everyday to afford life. Compared to having fewer fans, financial freedom, and set your family up for life after fighting?
Yes I make that money bc of my start in the UFC but there’s fighters like @ajmckee101 and @patchymix that built that financial freedom in Bellator who may have never gotten it in UFC and also has a fan base! Even @mikechandlermma and @michaelvenompage
So if you want fans and stardom… yes, you have a better chance in the UFC. But if you want to make money… test the field and go where the money is. [shrug emoji]
FAME DOESN’T PAY BILLS……..MONEY DOES!
Since he made his way to Bellator, Anderson has been virtually flawless minus two hiccups (4-1, 1 no contest, 17-6, 1 no contest overall) in his world title opportunities opposite the champion, Vadim Nemkov. Anderson scored technical knockout finishes in his first three fights in the promotion and last rebounded with a split decision win over Phil Davis at Bellator 297 in June 2023.
No one — genuinely, no one — could’ve foreseen this.
In many ways, Sean Strickland was 2023. The real-life manifestation of the omnipresent Twitter troll. The inevitable backlash to western cancel culture given flesh. The self-proclaimed former Neo-Nazi who drops homophobic slurs with impunity and rallies against women’s place in the workforce. In an era that celebrates nastiness at seemingly every turn, the UFC middleweight champion rose to be a perfectly imperfect avatar of the past 12 months in MMA (and honestly, the world), a character both profane yet authentic, impossibly offensive yet overwhelmingly beloved, often within the very same breath.
In that way, Strickland’s stunning rise makes sense. What doesn’t make sense, however, is that all of this actually happened in the first place. Consider where Strickland began the year: Coming off back-to-back losses, a nightmarish knockout at the hands of Alex Pereira and a forgettable decision against Jared Cannonier, the California native was a total nonentity, a woodwork figure, a career gatekeeper forever trapped on the periphery of the middleweight pecking order. Even his first two outings of 2023 did little to shift the perception that Strickland was Mr. APEX — wins over Nassourdine Imavov and Abus Magomedov, both of which saw Strickland cast as the stepping stone for a future star.
But availability and gameness are two of the most undervalued skills in this game, and for all his faults, no one has ever accused Strickland of lacking in either category.
So simply because of a dearth of better options, Strickland flew to Australia for UFC 293’s short-notice title bout against Israel Adesanya. He was supposed to be the 8-to-1 underdog, the ugly American stereotype stepping into enemy territory, the warm-up fight for the Adesanya vs. Dricus du Plessis matchup the division and its fan base truly wanted to see. But somewhere along the way, something remarkable happened. That Oceanic crowd? It swayed over to Strickland’s side. And that Adesanya vs. du Plessis matchup? He stole every ounce of its thunder. In a year rife with bizarre and shocking results, no result was more bizarre or shocking than the unholy whooping Strickland laid down upon Adesanya.
A pillar to post shellacking. Twenty-five minutes of utter dominance. This was no fluke. This was no off night. It was a champion taking his place upon the throne with one of the most thorough, nuanced, one-sided, and ultimately mind-bending performances in UFC history.
Whether you love him or hate him, whether you’re disgusted by his antics or revere his willingness to speak his unfiltered mind without fear of reprisal, Strickland is the fighter who defined 2023 above any other. From 0-2 and barely a blip on the radar, to 3-0 and one of the most talked-about athletes in the whole damn sport, the champ is also proof positive that it’s never too late in MMA, because the next big star is only one good year away.
Getty Images, MMA Fighting
2. ISLAM MAKHACHEV
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
If 2022 was the year Islam Makhachev finally broke through, 2023 was the year he cemented himself as much more than just the heir apparent to Khabib Nurmagomedov.
No rivalry dominated MMA’s discourse over the past year like the one shared by Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski. In terms of pure in-cage action, their first meeting in February produced the most spectacular superfight in UFC history. Of the seven champ vs. champ matchups to grace the octagon, none lived up to the hype quite like Makhachev vs. Volkanovski 1, which set the bar for 2023’s Fight of the Year debate. Then, in October, the UFC lightweight champion slammed the door shut on any lingering controversy from his decision win, obliterating Volkanovski with a first-round head kick to become the first man in more than a decade to beat the featherweight king so decisively and emphatically.
(Also, that photo. Good God, that photo. Legendary.)
As we stand today, Makhachev is the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in MMA — and there isn’t a close second place. With title challenges against Charles Oliveira and Justin Gaethje already looming, the seeds have been planted for Makhachev to close 2024 as the most accomplished UFC lightweight champion who’s ever lived, toppling even Nurmagomedov from his record-tying perch atop the all-time list of 155-pound title defenses.
3T. FRANCIS NGANNOU
Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
If only the award was called Prizefighter of the Year, Francis Ngannou would win in a landslide.
Few athletes in 2023 faced a bigger uphill climb than MMA’s lineal heavyweight king, but few athletes ever staked their careers on bigger gambles. Ngannou kicked off the year by making history, departing the UFC at the peak of his powers in order to seek opportunities elsewhere. He dared to fight the industry’s most powerful force — and he won. And what did it get him? Months of online mockery, backlash, and derision. Months of hot-take artists and UFC bootlickers claiming the world’s baddest man “fumbled the bag.” Their revelry was inescapable. That’ll teach Ngannou to be grateful. That’ll teach him to learn his place.
Boy, how dumb do those supposed geniuses look now?
Ngannou’s two-pronged triumph kicked off in May when he signed a historic, unprecedented deal with PFL that included equity in MMA’s “co-leader,” a $ 2 million minimum salary for his opponents, plus executive roles as the Chairman of PFL Africa and on the promotion’s advisory board to represent the athlete’s interests. But then came the kicker — two months later, Ngannou stunned the combat sports world again, booking a big-money showdown against Tyson Fury few thought was anything more than a pipe dream.
Yet somehow, Ngannou wasn’t done.
Dismissed as an afterthought against Fury, a charity case, a mere warm-up fight for boxing’s lineal heavyweight champ before the real fight against Oleksandr Usyk, Ngannou shocked his naysayers all over again, dropping Fury in the third round and ultimately giving the heavyweight champ his toughest test in years. In the end, Ngannou left his professional debut just one scorecard away from securing the one of the biggest upsets in combat sports history (and he likely should’ve done just that). Now he’s an official top-10 ranked heavyweight in his second sport and one of the biggest names in all of combat.
Bag: Secured.
Ngannou’s life story was already a movie before 2023, but the events of the past 12 months pushed it beyond a simple biopic and well into the realm of full-blown fantasy.
(And speaking of legendary photos … sheesh. Something really was in the water in 2023.)
3T. LEON EDWARDS
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Was Leon Edwards a fluke?
That was the question coming into 2023 after Edwards authored one of the wildest storybook title wins in UFC history with his fifth-round magic against Kamaru Usman in 2022. Long considered the forgotten man of the welterweight division, the also-ran, the punchline whose Sysphyian path was a source of constant mockery, Edwards may have capitalized in his first UFC title challenge, but plenty of doubt still festered over whether he truly belonged among MMA’s elite or whether he was just the benefactor of a lucky shot.
What followed in 2023 were back-to-back nights of validation over the two welterweights who for years denied him from the conversation, Usman and Colby Covington — the former of which cemented Edwards’ claim to the throne, and the latter of which sent Covington into a pitiful tailspin from which the Trump-guzzling contender may never fully recover.
In an ugly year too often defined by hate and division, Edwards embodied the unwavering class that martial arts — at their core — are supposed to be about.
5. PATCHY MIX
Photo by Matt Davies/PxImages/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
If there can be only one crown jewel of PFL’s industry-shaking acquisition of Bellator, it is undoubtedly Patchy Mix.
The (final?) Bellator bantamweight champion cemented his claim as one of the top 135-pounders on the planet in 2023 with a stunning campaign that saw him become just the second man ever to knock out Raufeon Stots (the other is a guy you may have heard of), capture a cool $ 1 million as the victor of the promotion’s bantamweight world grand prix, then unify the belts with a highlight-reel showing over Sergio Pettis at Bellator’s final event under the Paramount banner. So forceful was Mix’s takeover that he not only became one of the few non-UFC fighters to draw first-place votes from MMA Fighting’s rankings panel as the top dog in his division, but he essentially ignited a civil war within our team.
As we stand today, Mix is locked in a dead heat with Sean O’Malley for bantamweight supremacy, with each receiving four first-place votes from our eight-person voting committee.
Mix may not be a household name, but he also may be the most talented fighter currently outside of the UFC — and it’s only a matter of time before more people start realizing what the hardcores already understand: That Patchy Mix is really freakin’ good at fist-fighting.
Here is how the voting for MMA Fighting’s 2023 Fighter of the Year played out.
Justin Gaethje is ready for another shot at UFC gold.
Originally scheduled to rematch Charles Oliveira at UFC 294, Islam Makhachev instead defended his lightweight world title against Alexander Volkanovski after ‘Do Bronx’ was forced to withdraw due to a cut sustained whilst training.
The ‘Dagestani Destroyer’ made quick work of Volkanovski, scoring a vicious first-round head-kick KO.
Everyone assumed that the UFC would look to rebook the originally scheduled headliner between Makhachev and Oliveira for early 2024. However, it now appears that Islam Makhachev and his manager, Ali Abdelaziz, have completely moved on from running it back with Oliveira in favor of a fresh matchup with current BMF titleholder Justin Gaethje.
‘The Highlight’ is more than ready to jump the queue and sign on the dotted line if that’s what Makhachev wants. All UFC CEO Dana White has to do is make the call.
“Waiting on the call,” Gaethje wrote on X. “Ready when you are @ufc @danawhite Let’s see who can kick the others head off first @MAKHACHEVMMA Do Bronx had his shot and didn’t show up for the rematch. It is what it is.”
Waiting on the call. Ready when you are @ufc @danawhite Let’s see who can kick the others head off first @MAKHACHEVMMA Do Bronx had his shot and didn’t show up for the rematch. It is what it is. https://t.co/Wg83vtmLHm
— Justin Gaethje (@Justin_Gaethje) December 26, 2023
Is the third time the charm for Justin Gaethje?
Gaethje’s last appearance inside the Octagon came at UFC 291 when he scored a highlight-reel-worthy knockout of Dustin Poirier. It was his second-straight victory after putting on a brilliant performance against Rafael Fiziev four months prior. Gaethje has won three of his last five with his two losses coming in championship fights.
If ‘The Highlight’ does land another lightweight title opportunity, it will be his third, and likely final chance at gold after coming up short against former champions Khabib Nurmagomedov and Charles Oliveira.
Scott Coker and Nobuyuki Sakakibara | Photo by Jun Sato/WireImage
RIZIN has co-promoted several times with Bellator in the past, making room for Kyoji Horiguchi to make history as two-promotion champion, but those days could be in the past.
Bellator was acquired by the Professional Fighters League in 2023 and will reportedly become an eight-event international series going forward. PFL founder Donn Davis has previously mentioned an interest in working with the Japanese organization, but RIZIN president Nobuyuki Sakakibara told MMA Fighting that that’s a relationship that needs to be built.
“[Co-promoting] was all possible because of the relationship that we’ve had with Scott Coker,” Sakakibara said, referring to the former head of Bellator. “And this relationship has not been developed within just one or two years – this goes way back of working together and the trust and relationship that we’ve had. That’s the only reason why we could make this happen.
“When two promoters get together and think like, ‘What can we do for the future of this sport? We just can’t have our guys under contract, in an exclusive contract, and not let them fight outside because the fans want to see who’s the best fighter.’ And if promoters with the same open mind can work together like that, we can make these things happen. When two promoters get together and start thinking about what the best move is for the future of our sport, we can do that kind of stuff.”
Bellator and RIZIN worked together for a two-night special on 2022’s New Years’ Eve in Japan, with five Bellator fighters flying to Japan to face some of RIZIN’s best. For such extravaganza to happen again, Sakakibara and Davis must have their “philosophies” aligned.
“We understand that Bellator is under a new ownership and all promoters have different motives – all promoters have different ways to promote and philosophies that are different,” Sakakibara said. “Obviously, if Donn Davis has that passion, if he sees the importance of what we’re doing, the concept of what we’re doing for the sport and for the future. … We call ourselves a fight federation, RIZIN Fighting Federation, we want to continue to work with as many promoters as possible that share the same vision. I understand that Donn Davis has his ambitions and plans, so if we can make things work, our doors are always open.”
RIZIN will hold it’s traditional New Years’ Eve show on Dec. 31 with two championship bouts on top of the card in Saitama, Juan Archuleta vs. Kai Askura and Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Makoto Shinryu, and Japanese fans will get another MMA attraction when ONE Championship returns to the country on Jan. 28.
“We don’t look at ONE coming to Japan and doing a show as a threat at all,” Sakakibara said. “We actually think it’s a good thing, you know? As a promoter, we’re actually interested to see what kind of atmosphere, what kind of product they’re gonna bring and cater to the Japanese fans.
“We actually want the UFC to come and do their thing and just kind of bring their show to Japan, because that only helps the Japanese fans, it only helps grow and educate the Japanese fans with combat sports content. Right now, we’re the only ones doing big events, and there’s nothing to compare it with. We always believe that healthy competition is necessary in every market, so I really do want the Japanese fans to be able to experience different kind of promotions and different kind of productions and atmospheres while staying in Japan. We think it’s a really good thing, actually.”
Since leaving Cage Warriors and signing with the UFC, Paddy Pimblett has had a target on his back and that hasn’t changed three years later.
‘The Baddy’ earned the biggest win of his career last time out when he dominated Tony Ferguson for the entire three-round affair at UFC 296. Despite tending to keep his chin high, the scouser is well-rounded and is capable of finishing the fight wherever it takes place.
Following his win—which extends his unbeaten run to seven—Pimblett potentially finds himself on the verge of a ranked opponent. However, he may have to wait for a top-15 showing next after being called out by knockout artist Matt Frevola.
“I think it’s the fight to make but at the end of the day Sean Shelby, Dana White, and the UFC need to feel the same,” Frevola said regarding a potential Paddy Pimblett bout. “His backyard or mine would be fun.”
I think it's the fight to make but at the end of the day @seanshelby , @danawhite & The @ufc need to feel the same.
His backyard or mine would be fun 🇺🇸 🇬🇧 👊🏻⚔️ https://t.co/GXarHubASx pic.twitter.com/Bvb1Bu53jE
— Matt “The Steamrolla”Frevola (@SteamRollaa) December 26, 2023
Despite losing his last matchup to the always-dangerous Benoit Saint-Denis, Matt Frevola has established himself as one of the most devastating knockout artists in the division.
Before his defeat against the Frenchman, ‘Steamrolla’ collected three straight first-round knockouts inside the octagon.
Wins over Genaro Valdez, Ottman Azaitar, and Drew Dober set the New York native up for big things at 155 lbs. Taking his chance to call out some huge names in the weight class, Frevola is seemingly most interested in a meeting with fan-favorite Paddy Pimblett.
Though he fatigued as the fight went on, Pimblett put on a show during his aforementioned Tony Ferguson clash. The Brit almost finished his opponent in the opening round and later showed his grappling dominance against a high-level jiu-jitsu player in ‘El Cucuy’.
Related: Paddy Pimblett defeats Tony Ferguson in a shutout
Frevola isn’t the only one calling for a shot at the controversial lightweight. While he has a big fight against Mateusz Gamrot on the way, Rafael dos Anjos has stated his interest in facing Pimblett next.
You guys didn’t get the joke. Pimblett is terrible. I would beat this kid without a fight camp
— Rafael dos Anjos (@RdosAnjosMMA) December 17, 2023
Getty Images, MMA Fighting 
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images 
Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images 
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images 
Photo by Matt Davies/PxImages/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images 
MMA Fighting 
(@Justin_Gaethje) December 26, 2023
File under: Mmamania.com | Leave a comment »