Corey Anderson has zero love for Jon Jones, but he's pumped the UFC star beat Dominick Reyes ... 'cause he tells TMZ Sports now he'll be the first to take down the MMA legend.
Anderson -- the #5 ranked UFC light heavyweight -- is taking on Jan Blachowicz at UFC Fight Night 167 on Saturday ... and if Corey wins, there's a great chance the prize is Jon.
We talked to Anderson about Jones vs. Reyes ... and the LHW title contender says he totally understands why a lot of people think Jon lost, but he's happy as hell he got the W.
"While I was watching I was like, 'Man, I could lose the opportunity to be the one that beats Jon.'"
Anderson continued ... "At the end, I’m happy that Jon got the win because I get to be the one to dethrone him. I knew if Dom would’ve won, they would do the rematch. And I'd have to wait for that."
FYI -- Jon's one and only (controversial) loss came against Matt Hamill in 2009 ... when he was disqualified for throwing illegal elbows. Jones was dominating the fight.
Dominick Reyes goes right at Jon Jones 👀#UFC247 | @espnmma pic.twitter.com/HSC2yi8Uza
— ESPN (@espn) February 9, 2020
Corey says he believes Dom exposed Jon ... and when he eventually faces the champ, he'll hand him an even more severe beating.
"Like I said when I saw it going on, my mindset was, 'yeah, I knew he was beatable.' I was the one who always said, 'I know I can beat Jon.' I know ways to beat him, I see the holes. I see what you gotta do to beat him, and Dom went out there, did pretty much a lot of it."
Corey will probably get a chance to prove it ... all he has to do is take out Blachowicz, one of the baddest dudes in MMA.