Fighter Profile: Corey Anderson

Background

American light heavyweight from New Jersey, a former NCAA Division III national wrestling champion and a former Bellator light heavyweight champion. His professional record is 20-6 and he is the reigning PFL light heavyweight world champion.

Career timeline

• Won The Ultimate Fighter 19 and spent six years in the UFC light heavyweight division before moving to Bellator in 2020.
• Won the Bellator light heavyweight championship and the promotion’s light heavyweight grand prix.
• Won the PFL light heavyweight world championship on 3 October 2025 at PFL Champions Series in Dubai, beating Dovlet Yagshimuradov by unanimous decision (49-45, 48-47, 49-45).
• Overcame two early eye pokes in that fight and controlled top position through the championship rounds, snapping Yagshimuradov’s seven-fight winning streak.

Fight craft

Anderson’s game is smothering rather than explosive: he closes into the clinch, works trips and body locks against the fence, and once on top he stays there, grinding out position and denying scrambles. He has real power in his right hand but uses striking mostly as a route into grappling. His weakness has always been chin durability — the knockout losses on his record came when he stood and traded rather than wrestled — and he tends to win by attrition rather than by finish.

In the modern MMA landscape

Our wider MMA analysis describes Anderson’s title win accurately. The point worth adding is career-shaped rather than tactical: he has now held light heavyweight championships in two major promotions, which makes him one of the more decorated fighters in the sport outside the UFC.

Return to What the Modern MMA Game Demands.

Sources

• PFL — Corey Anderson beats Yagshimuradov for the light heavyweight world title
• Yahoo Sports — PFL Dubai results: Anderson beats Yagshimuradov
• ESPN — Corey Anderson fight history

Record and competitive status checked 1 August 2026.