Corey Anderson Happy Jon Jones Won at UFC 247: ‘I Get to Be the One to Dethrone Him’

Corey Anderson didn’t see the outcome of the UFC 247 headliner between Jon Jones and Dominick Reyes as a robbery.

Jones ultimately retained his light heavyweight title with a controversial unanimous decision triumph over Reyes on Saturday at the Toyota Center in Houston, but many unofficial scorecards had the verdict going the other way.

“Dominick threw more punches and landed more, but, percentage-wise, I think Jon landed more,” Anderson told TMZ Sports. “You could flip the coin on that one, it could have went either way.”

Anderson lobbied hard to face Jones in recent weeks, but the champion ended up electing to fight Reyes, in part because of the Californian’s previously unblemished record. While watching the UFC 247 main event, “Overtime” had concerns that he would lose his chance to make history.

“When I was watching, I was like, ‘Man, I could lose that opportunity to be the one to beat Jon,'” he siad. “It could have gone either way, especially when he got caught with a couple of shots and looked like he might have been hurt. Dom is usually known for pouring it on, but he was so tired, he couldn’t do it.”

Anderson wasn’t surprised to see Jones struggle with Reyes, however. He believes that he has the skill set to give Jones his first official loss further down the line.

“I knew he was beatable,” Anderson said. “I was the one that always said, ‘I know I can beat Jon, I know ways to beat him.’ I see the holes, I see what you got to do to beat him, and Dom went out there and did pretty much a lot of it. He went out there and did another blueprint of things that I had already seen, but I see so much more.

“I got more in my tank, and I got more in my style in the way I fight that Dom doesn’t that I think is going to be a problem for him. But at the end, I’m happy that Jon got the win because I get to be the one to dethrone him.”

Anderson will face Jan Blachowicz in the UFC Fight Night 167 headliner in Rio Rancho, N.M., on Saturday. The winner of that bout could be the next No. 1 contender at light heavyweight. Anderson enters the matchup on a four-fight winning streak.

I’ve got to wait and see what happens this weekend. That’s the biggest thing to me. Jon right now is the champion, but in my mind, this is my championship fight,” Anderson said. “Jan Blachowicz this Saturday is a championship fight for me. That’s the most important thing. I’ve got to go out there and do what Corey does and put on a dominant show for five rounds. After it’s all said and done, then I can worry about what’s next.”