Getty Conor McGregor is restrained during a ceremonial weigh in for UFC 264 at T-Mobile Arena on July 09, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Former UFC light heavyweight title contender Anthony “Lionheart” Smith recently shared his thoughts on Conor McGregor during an interview with LowKickMMA.com.
From getting into online feuds with UFC legends Daniel Cormier and Michael Bisping, to threatening Dustin Poirier and seemingly taking a shot at Khabib Nurmagomedov’s late father, McGregor’s been making controversial headlines since his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan at UFC 264.
GettyAnthony Smith (L) throws a punch during a light heavyweight title bout against Jon Jones during UFC 235 at T-Mobile Arena on March 02, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“I can’t handle the tweeting stuff,” Smith said via the outlet. “I didn’t like it when he was attacking Khabib (Nurmagomedov) and his family and his religion and the personal stuff. Me and Luke Rockhold have gone back-and-forth several times and neither one of us has ever attacked each other personally. Even Jon (Jones) and I — I mean, it’s got a little personal but it hasn’t really crossed over to like, too much. He’s made some jokes and he thinks he’s funny and whatever, but it’s never gotten to that point where we were attacking each other’s families.“
“With Conor it’s just — it’s too far, it’s way too far,” Smith continued. “Take all this fighting bulls*** out of the picture — like people get shot for a lot less than that just walking down the street, I dont know. Maybe I just grew up different. Maybe I’ve grew up different and I’ve seen some crazier sh*t.“
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Lionheart Doesn’t ‘Understand’ How or Why McGregor Says the Things He Says
McGregor has said and tweeted some very controversial things as of late, and Smith has no idea how Notorious “feels free” to do so.
“Like I’m just so shocked that he has the balls to — like I don’t understand why you feel so free to say things like that, like is he really that untouchable and really just feels like he’s just free to say what he wants?” Smith said. “Maybe, I guess he’s got a bunch of security around him. There’s some people that you can’t talk like that about. It’s just — it’s weird to me.“
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Smith Said Its Unclear If McGregor’s Recent Antics Are Actually a Reflection of Him As a Person
Lionheart believes that McGregor appears to be “spiraling” since his loss to The Diamond. And Smith isn’t sure where Notorious’ recent inflammatory comments are coming from, whether it’s McGregor just trying to be the master marketer that he is, or if Notorious is just being himself.
“He seems to be spinning, he seems to be spiraling a little bit,” Smith explained. “And it’s just disappointing, you know, you have people ask you all the time, ‘What’s Conor really like?’ I don’t really know — I don’t know Conor, but I know people who have had lots of interactions with Conor and have had nothing but positive things to say about him. That he’s fantastic in private. That he tips well. That he takes care of the people who take care of him.“
“I can’t stick up for Conor anymore,” Anthony Smith continued. “It’s easy to say, ‘Oh, it’s just a show it’s just to sell fights, it’s an image,’ but it’s probably really is just who Conor is as a person and that’s kinda sad.“
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