Corey Anderson vs. Melvin Manhoef: Fight card, date, expert picks, preview

While it may be rather difficult to find anyone who has thrived amid such an unpredictable year like 2020, light heavyweight contender Corey Anderson’s began particularly disastrous.

After seeing his four-fight win streak within the UFC snapped via first-round knockout by current 205-pound champion Jan Blachowicz in February, Anderson (13-5) passed out and suffered a bad concussion one week later due to dehydration. Next came a whirlwind five months in which he was diagnosed with a serious heart condition that led to a tour of hospitals and the possibility he would never fight again.

That was the first half of 2020. What has happened since then for the 31-year-old Anderson has been exclusively on the up and up.

Despite having two fights left on his UFC deal, the promotion granted Anderson a surprise release during failed negotiations. His subsequent free agency period lasted a mere two hours as Anderson, with help and advice from training partner Daniel Cormier, received a phone call and an offer he couldn’t refuse to join Bellator MMA.

On Thursday night, Anderson is set to make his promotional debut in the main event of Bellator 251 against legendary knockout artist Melvin Manhoef (32-14-1, 2 NC) from Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut (CBS Sports Network, 7 p.m. ET).

“After the last loss, stuff had gone on in life and I had to sit back and think with my family if I was going to continue to do this and what needed to change,” Anderson told “Morning Kombat” on Monday. “One [change] was the way I fight and the other was we needed to start getting paid our worth.

“It’s as simple as that. Bellator made an offer and we were like, ‘That’s our worth.'”

Despite some harsh exit comments from UFC president Dana White about Anderson’s worth, the 6-foot-3 fighter who’s expected to be an instant contender for the Bellator’s light heavyweight title has no ill feelings toward his former employee, saying, “It’s business. I’m happy it went as smooth as it did. That’s the only feeling I have.”

Anderson, instead, is focused on changing the things that are within his power to do so and believes his recent health scare was a wakeup call from above to course correct the person he was becoming.

“It helped me stop and realize my self worth, it made me realize the things I needed to stop and do differently in this sport and it made me change my attitude,” Anderson said. “One of the reasons why I lost that last fight was I know my attitude going in was different. My management even called me and said I was starting to seem like the person UFC wanted me to be rather than myself — a humble young man. I feel like I lost that whole perspective I have always had.”

From showing up at a New Jersey card show and accosting then-champion Jon Jones in hopes of luring him into a fight to entering the Johnny Walker and Blachowicz fights with real intentions of hurting his opponents, Anderson began to realize how much he had lost his way as a person.

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“My mindset had always been that I never want to fight to seriously do damage to my opponent. I wanted to win and get my check and get out of there the best way possible,” Anderson said. “The last fight, I went into it with the mindset that I wanted to kill this guy and do the most damage possible so he would never forget my name. And that’s why I believe the Lord did to me what he did so I can sit back and realize I am going about this thing the whole wrong way and this is not who I am.”

Another big change for Anderson was to stop stressing over footage of prospective opponents and worrying about what they do well and instead focusing on what he brings to the table and how he can implement that to have success.

Anderson has seen tape of Nemkov and is straight up impressed with how the 28-year-old Russian has run through the likes of Liam McGeary, Phil Davis and Ryan Bader to capture the Bellator title. But whether it takes Anderson one victory or a handful of them before he can get a title shot, he’s ready for the journey ahead.

The first step in that journey is the 44-year-old Manhoef whom Anderson admits he didn’t know much about when offered his name as a potential opponent.

“To be honest, I think one thing that does me great in this sport is I didn’t watch it growing up so I don’t know all the names,” Anderson said. “When Melvin Manhoef’s name came, I was like, ‘Who is this?’ I remember seeing highlights of that guy but I’m going in there like he’s just another opponent. I didn’t know nothing about him and haven’t seen him until I started watching his film.”

Although Anderson has respect for Manhoef’s reputation of being able to end a fight with one strike from any of his four limbs, he plans to rely on his bread and butter of wrestling to hopefully do what his intention is entering every fight: dominate.

Fight card
Corey Anderson vs. Melvin Manhoef, light heavyweights
Said Sowma vs. Tyrell Fortune, heavyweights
Vinicius de Jesus vs. Austin Vanderford, middleweights
Killys Mota vs. Derek Anderson, welterweights
Bryce Logan vs. Georgi Karakhanyan, lightweights
Julius Anglickas vs. Alex Polizzi, light heavyweight
Jessy Miele vs. Janay Harding, women’s featherweights
Piankhi Zimmerman vs. Ali Zebian, lightweights
Joe Supino vs. Jaylon Bates, bantamweights
Jessica Ruiz vs. Sumiko Inaba, women’s flyweights

Prediction
They say that power is the last thing to go in an aging fighter and there’s reason to believe Manhoef will remain a knockout threat against any opponent deep into his senior citizen years. But for the purpose of this fight, and even with Manhoef’s two-fight win streak under the Bellator flag, this is very much a tough matchup for him.

Styles make fights, of course, and this one offers a strong contrast of them as Manhoef’s power is paired up against the cardio and grappling of Anderson. But the fighter with the deeper gas tank and 13-year age advantage is a huge favorite for a reason.

As long as Anderson doesn’t look to get too cute or make a statement too large that puts him into danger, this is a version of Manhoef who can be controlled and outworked on the ground. Expect Anderson to do just that in dominant fashion.