Corey Anderson sympathizes with Bellator fighter complaints at PFL: ‘There’s no real plan … that is upsetting’

When Corey Anderson asked for his release from the UFC and ultimately signed with Bellator, he hoped for the best for his future but even he couldn’t have predicted how things would play out.

Just a day after signing with his new promotion, the former Ultimate Fighter winner got the chance to sit down with Bellator president Scott Coker to discuss his future and along with assurances from matchmaker Mike Kogan, he knew he made the right move. Unfortunately, Anderson wasn’t granted the same kind of audience with PFL executives after the company bought out Bellator at the end of 2023, which left him with a lot of questions that have never been answered.

As 2025 fast approaches, Anderson has already been out of action for the past nine months and he’s joining a growing list of Bellator fighters expressing concerns about what exactly PFL has planned for them.

“For me, like I said in the hash tag when I made that post [on Twitter] about aging like old milk, bring Scott Coker back,” Anderson told MMA Fighting. “Because for me that was the selling point for me. When me and Scott sat down and had breakfast the day after I signed and everything he told me he stuck to his word. That’s the thing. If I meet you face to face and you tell me something and we shake hands on it, I expect you to keep your word. Scott Coker and Mike Kogan and everything Mike Kogan told me, I signed and we did a Facetime on [Daniel Cormier’s phone] and everything he said, he kept his word. Scott Coker kept his word.

“[PFL CEO] Pete Murray and [PFL co-founder] Donn Davis, I’ve never met them. It’s kind of like I’m up in the air. I met Pete in Chicago but it was during the fights so it wasn’t much time to sit down and talk and figure out a plan. It’s kind of like an unknown. I don’t know what their plans are. It’s daunting at times because you don’t know.”

While Anderson has openly expressed his frustration with PFL, which included a Christmas day message aimed at the promotion over his lack of activity despite contractual obligations, he’s never gone as far as demanding his release from the organization.

That’s not the case for reigning Bellator champions Patchy Mix and Patricio Pitbull, who have both requested a release from their contracts as the fighters continue toiling away on the sidelines with no clear indication on when either of them will fight again.

Anderson definitely understands why Mix and Pitbull are so angry over the situation and it really comes down to a lack of communication from the PFL.

“There’s no real plan,” Anderson said. “That is upsetting at times. With Scott Coker and Mike Kogan, I never really stressed because I know they gave me their word. If you’re a real man and you shake my hand and you look me in the eye, you’re going to keep your word. I don’t care what the contract says. Your word is your bond. Your last name is everything so you’re speaking on your name. So Kogan and Coker, they both shook my hand and everything they’ve ever said — even when I fought Phil Davis and I talked to Coker in the back, he said ‘your next fight is a title fight.’ Point blank, nothing else. They went to announce the Nemkov fight, he pulled [out]. He told me ‘I know the sale is happening but don’t worry, I promise you your next fight is a title fight, you just wait. Your next fight is going to be a title fight, no matter what happens.’

“[Bellator] got bought by PFL, [Mike Kogan] called me with the first call like ‘hey, first card over in Ireland, I told you, you got a title fight, do you want to go to Ireland?’ Yes, of course! [He said] ‘I’ll get your contract.’ A man of his word. That’s big for me.”

More than a year after the PFL and Bellator merger, Anderson still hasn’t actually spoken to his new bosses with Kogan remaining his primary point of contact within the organization.

“With Donn and Pete, I haven’t talked to them,” Anderson said. “I don’t know what their plans are. At the same time, from the outside looking it, it just looks like guys that haven’t really spent much time in fighting, so they don’t really know what they’re doing at the moment. They’re trying to make business moves. They’re good at Wall Street type stuff, stocks and making money, but that’s just a different game than the fight game so I just don’t know their plans.

“Who knows. They might have something planned. You keep seeing Donn post on Twitter ‘next year this, next year that.’ Hopefully, it’s something big. Hopefully we get something at the beginning of the year and get another one at the end of the year. I hope I don’t fight one more fight and end up sitting on the shelf again.”

Anderson initially expected to return in January after offering and accepting a fight against longtime rival Vadim Nemkov but the bout was eventually scrapped and he wasn’t rebooked with a different opponent.

Since that fight cancellation, Anderson says he’s been promised a fight in early 2025 but there’s still nothing official much less a bout agreement coming across his table.

Thankfully, Anderson always planned for the future so financially he’s not in a bad spot where he’s potentially going broke without fighting so that’s not a burden weighing down on him.

Still at 35, Anderson knows his time left in the sport is limited and each passing day only makes him question when or if he might get to fight again.

“I’m at peace,” Anderson said. “I would love to fight and keep defending the belt. I really want to fight and keep defending the belt but at the same time, if something came up where Bellator crashed today and UFC didn’t want to pick me back up or I went to the doctor and I couldn’t fight again, I could literally walk away from the game and say I did 12 years, I gave it my all. I went into the game with zero experience, won The Ultimate Fighter, made it to the big show, won my belt, I’ve accomplished everything I wanted to do. Now I can just live life and hang out with my kids.”