UFC Fight Night 128's Corey Anderson goes to kickboxing class for comeback

ATLANTIC CITY – UFC light heavyweight Corey Anderson’s time limit for sulking is five minutes.

In wrestling, that’s how much time he got to recover from a loss. Then it was back out on the mats for the next match.

When Ovince Saint Preux’s head kick sent him unconscious to the canvas this past November at UFC 217, Anderson (9-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC) went backstage and found a replay of the stoppage on his phone. He analyzed what went wrong, and then he resolved to fix it.

Anderson isn’t different than any other fighter when it comes to the sting of losing, but he might be a little unique in how much time he takes to look forward.

Or, in the case of his next opponent, look back. Patrick Cummins (10-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC, his foe on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 128, called him out in 2014 and finally booked a fight this past November at UFC 217, only to rule himself out due to a staph infection. Anderson has looked to settle the score ever since.

“You think just because I’m young, you’re going to get it,” Anderson told MMAjunkie in advance of Saturday’s FS1-televised fight at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. “I thought I could beat him then.”

The difference between now and four years ago, however, is that Anderson is no longer the undefeated prospect. Over the past two years, he’s gone 1-3 in the octagon with back-to-back knockout losses marking his most recent appearances.

But for Anderson, the setbacks have just been a signal to grow. From the time he grew up in Rockford, Ill., his father taught him to be humble and take advice from unusual places. So he enrolled in kickboxing classes.

“There’s a lot of things I didn’t learn and I’m still working on to learn,” he said.

In just the past five months, one direction has driven Anderson’s fighting: hands up. He’d always thought the best way to protect himself was to keep his elbows at his sides and his fists in front of his face. But he saw what happened there.

After working with UFC middleweight and former GLORY kickboxer Karl Roberson, Anderson now has his elbows out and his hands high, ready to intercept high kicks and shots to the body. The old habit is broken.

“I was just getting away with it, because I’m humble and I work hard,” he said.

It’s been a trial by fire for Anderson, who in March celebrated his fifth year as a professional fighter. But the very physical consequences of his evolution have only motivated him to keep learning.

“It ain’t like I went out there and lost to scrubs,” he said. “I was fighting top guys. And one thing about me, I never back away from a challenge.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 128, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.