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Light heavyweight contender Anthony Smith is one of the most well-rounded fighters in the sport today, but the 32-year-old’s 2020 has already been filled with bloody battles in and out of the cage. Next for Smith is another potentially bloody battle against Aleksander Rakic on Saturday night in the main event of the UFC Fight Night card at UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.
First, Smith revealed back in April that he found himself in the fight of his life against an intruder who had entered his home in the middle of the night through an open garage.
The craziest part? This rando gave one of the toughest and best UFC fighters in the world just about all he could handle during that altercation.
Next, the entire world watched Smith suffer a horrendously bloody beatdown to veteran contender Glover Texiera in May in a fight that had many calling for the heads of Smith’s cornermen for not stopping the fight before it was halted in the final round.
Wondering which event was crazier from Smith’s perspective?
“Well, obviously the break-in, just because of the added factor with my family and it’s two totally different situations when you’re in bed at four in the morning, and there’s a strange man screaming in your house with a kid, there was a lot of unknowns there.”
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Smith: ‘Fighting Is Easy for Me’
Smith said that no matter how bad things looked against Texiera or any other fighter, he was always ready for what could happen inside the Octagon. Boody battles don’t scare fighters nicknamed “Lionheart”.
“Fighting is easy for me. My fight weeks are the most chill, relaxed time that I have. I don’t have the stresses of three hard training sessions a day. I train with this super-competitive team at home and in Denver. So the fights are easy, man. I don’t ever stress too much about those. I don’t ever get nervous. I just go on and do my thing and do the best I can. But, when you got a guy that’s in your house and you don’t know if he’s armed, or you don’t know if he’s alone and don’t know why he is there, that’s really different. That hits different for sure.”
Smith Talks More About ‘One-Trick Pony’
Much was made of Smith calling his opponent a “one-trick pony” last week, but Smith said he was simply trying to convey that Rakic possessed one heck of a trick.
“I didn’t say that to be offensive,” Smith said. “I’m an analyst. When I break down fights, I do it from the position of an analyst.”
What Smith meant was that he would have to be on top of his game to handle Rakic’s impressive striking skills.
“And like I said, immediately following that, I don’t think that this is an easy fight. I just said that I know like he’s a one-trick pony, but his one trick is pretty goddamned dangerous. And that was my point is I know what I’m getting myself into. There are no secrets. It’s not like he’s going to come out and start pulling guard and start trying to grapple me. You know what I mean?”
So Smith said he expects Rakic to come at him with his best assets on the ready for fight night in what is an important fight for both 2015-pound competitors.
“He’s really dangerous,” Smith said. “He’s good at what he does.”
But Smith believes it won’t be enough to defeat him, a fighter who has already been through a lot and is not afraid of anything.
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