Bellator MMA light heavyweight contender Corey Anderson was told that he is the winner of $1 Million dollar prize this past weekend.
After leaving the UFC in 2020, Corey Anderson continued his career under the Bellator MMA banner. The 32-year-old was doing fairly well within the promotion and recently made it to the grand prix final at the Bellator 277 event. He faced Vadim Nemkov and believed 1 million dollars was on the line.
Sadly for Anderson, he had to say goodbye to the ginormous prize. Near end of the third round, Nemkov got knocked out and fell on the canvas. This prompted Corey Anderson and his family to celebrate, thinking ‘Overtime’ had won.
Soon the bout was ruled a no-contest and the referee came out announcing that Anderson had failed to get the huge prize.
“I jump on the cage, I get excited. My mom is crying. My family in the crowd is jumping up and down. All of a sudden, I jump down from the cage and you see the [$1 million] check walking down the stairs. All of a sudden, the ref comes back and tells me there’s [five] seconds left and you have to go all the way to the end of the third round to be declared the winner.” Anderson said.
Anderson accidentally headbutted Nemkov – sadly headbutting is an illegal move in many MMA promotions, including Bellator MMA. The head clash resulted in a horrible cut on Nemkov’s left eyebrow.
Corey Anderson expressed how he felt during the event. He admitted he was disappointed.
“It was a roller coaster — you go up and you come down fast. The biggest thing for me is to keep my composure and not lose my sportsmanship mentality.” Anderson added.
With this result, Vadim Nemkov kept his title and Bellator MMA will be rescheduling a rematch between them.