Anthony Smith on Luke Rockholds KO loss: “Serves him right”
There’s certainly no love lost between Anthony Smith and Luke Rockhold.
UFC 239 was one of the consensus best events of the year for the fans, but certainly not for the fighters who suffered tough losses. One of those fighters was former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold, who made his light heavyweight debut against Polish powerhouse Jan Blachowicz. As is now known, Rockhold got brutally knocked out in the second round and suffered a fractured jaw.
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During the past years Rockhold has held a rivalry of sorts with light heavyweight Anthony Smith, the latter of which has been on the receiving end of many insults. Rockhold has repeatedly downplayed Smith’s accomplishments in the UFC, called him a “bum”, and more.
After witnessing Rockholds brutal KO loss to Blachowicz, Smith opened up about his thoughts concerning his rival in an interview with Sirius XM.
“I would have loved to have been the guy that put Rockhold out like that, but I think it serves him right,” Smith said. “All the trash talk, all the ‘Anthony Smith is a bum, Gustafsson’s gonna roll over him and I’m gonna starch Jan,’ and just the disrespect and just looking right over Jan. I’ve been telling everybody that asks, Jan Blachowicz is the dark horse in the division. He’s one of the most dangerous dudes and part of it is because he’s so quiet. He keeps his mouth shut and he does his thing and he keeps on just walking through people. He does have the loss to Thiago but I think it’s safe to say that there’s nothing to blink your eyes at there.
“So it’s unfortunate that his jaw is broken. I don’t want anybody to get hurt but it is nice to, again, see Rockhold get it shoved right in his face. Every single time he’s trashed talked somebody and been too cocky and thought he was too good for everybody and that his shit doesn’t stink, he ends up being the one that looks stupid. So I’m glad that the MMA gods made sure that that kept happening.”
Smith hoping for new title shot
Earlier this year Smith challenged reigning light heavyweight champion Jon Jones for the title, but was promptly shut down throughout all five rounds. Smith has admitted that he wasn’t himself in the fight and that he froze up, but bounced back with a huge submission victory over three time titel challenger Alexander Gustafsson in June.
Let’s run it back. https://t.co/nw4ey5T1uR
— Anthony Smith (@lionheartasmith) July 10, 2019
Now back on track Smith has thrown his name in the hat in regards to potential title challengers for Jones – who wants to defend his titel again in december this year. It remains to be seen if “Lionheart” gets his wish.
