PFL champion looks to break rematch curse
Corey Anderson hasn’t tasted defeat often in his career, but two particular losses definitely sting worse than the others.
Back in 2020, Anderson was likely one win away from an undeniable title shot in the UFC, but a rematch against Jan Blachowicz went sideways in a hurry when he suffered a first-round knockout loss. In their first encounter in 2015, Anderson dominated Blachowicz to win a lopsided decision, but the second fight was effectively the exact opposite.
The same was true after Anderson suffocated Vadim Nemkov at Bellator 277 and nearly had a finish before an accidental clash of heads led to a no-contest. The immediate rematch at Bellator 288 saw the Russian keep the fight on the feet and ultimately pitch a shutout across five rounds. On Friday, Anderson has the third rematch of his career, this time against Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov, a fighter he viciously finished back in 2021.
It’s safe to say he’s learned his lesson about expecting the same outcome again.
“He’s definitely different fighter when we fought four years ago, five years ago,” Anderson told MMA Fighting. “I have to take that into account and not focus on that first fight like I did with Nemkov and the Jan [Blachowicz] one.
“That’s one thing I learned in those two fights. You can’t worry about the past. You’ve got to focus on the new guy. Study all the new film, compare it with the old film, pick things apart and go out there with a new game plan.”
Anderson admits he completely blew it in both of those previous rematches and has no one to blame but himself for those negative outcomes.
“Don’t go in there and completely change the game plan, do what you do but also it’s a new opponent. It’s a new person,” Anderson said. “Think about that stuff. In the past with Jan, I didn’t do my game plan. I was like I’m going to go in there and strike with this guy! I’m going to strike with him. I’m going to prove I can strike with him Last time I wrestled him and this time it cost me.
“Nemkov, I was trying to stick to the game plan but I changed the way I went about it and one, I didn’t train hard that camp and the style I tried to develop, it wasn’t my style. It was striking to get to the wrestling instead of using the wrestling to get to my striking. It cost me.”
While his fight against Yagshimuradov is different than those two, Anderson acknowledged he can’t make those same mistakes when it comes to believing the first fight is somehow going to determine the outcome in the rematch.
Anderson doesn’t want another repeat performance so he’s doing his best to study and learn how much Yagshimuradov has grown and evolved and then adapt his style to produce a similar result as the first fight.
“I’ve got a chance to right that wrong,” Anderson said. “I’ve got to do things than I did different then. It’s my third rematch. What did I do wrong both times? I underestimated my opponent the second time and taking them as they were the first fight. My wife said always remember, it’s a new fight.
“Now, it’s like OK third time’s the charm. The first time, I underestimated the guy and thought we could beat him everywhere and the second time, we tried to switch things up. This time, we’re not changing anything. We’re going to do what Corey Anderson does, my bread and butter, what got you to the belt and we’re going to do it even better. Now we’re going to remember, he’s still dangerous. Remember the things he caught you with in the first fight. Things he’s been catching guys with in the tournament ever since we fought. Stay alert. Stay aware and stay to the present, 25 minutes locked in on what we’ve got to do and dominate.”
Ideally, Anderson wants to win Friday and then potentially set up a third fight against Nemkov because that’s one matchup he desperately wants to run back. Nemkov recently signed a new long term deal to stay with PFL and he’s already booked his next fight against Renan Ferreira in December.
Anderson promises that winning his rematch against Yagshimuradov is the only thing on his mind right now, but once that job is completed, he would love to pursue vengeance against Nemkov in 2026.
“My buddy, wherever he goes, I go!” Anderson joked about Nemkov. “You would think so [that we’d fight again]. He’s there for two years, there’s plenty of opportunity. We’re both at the top. Why wouldn’t be fight again? It’s meant to be, it’s going to happen but at the same time he might do like he did last time [saying] ‘I need more time.’ But whatever.
“I think it makes sense, too. We’re just pawns in a chess game. We can’t really worry about that right now. We’ve got Dovlet Yagshimuradov to worry about. Once I’m finished with that one, we can pursue that but right now this fight is here. He signed back but we’ve got to worry about the mission ahead.”
Category: General Sports
