‘I WOULD STEP IN THE FIRE WITH PEREIRA AND HE KNOWS THAT’

Anthony Smith hopes to work his way back to another title shot starting at UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil next weekend (Sat., May 4, 2024).

It’s been five years since Smith shocked the mixed martial arts (MMA) world with his late-career resurgence through the Light Heavyweight ranks to challenge the then-champion, Jon Jones. Unfortunately for Smith, he lost the bout via a unanimous decision and has tried to make his case for another crack at gold ever since.

Smith, 35, has had some verbal exchanges with the current champion, Alex Pereira, in the past. Should a match up ever make sense, “Lionheart” is confident “Poatan” would be down for it.

“He’s fun,” Smith told Submission Radio. “Him and I have had our words back and forth. I don’t think there’s any real beef there, but there’s definitely something there with him and I where given the opportunity we both would jump on it. If I can put myself in a position where, ‘Oh, holy s—t. Here we are on a bit of a streak,’ and things are going well, timing works out, I think both of us would jump on that opportunity.

“I don’t know why that is,” he continued. “I don’t know if it’s ‘real recognizes real’ a little bit. I’m one of the few guys probably that would really — I don’t know — I would step in the fire with him and he knows that. Is [Magomed] Ankalaev gonna stand in the pocket and trade with Alex Pereira and really play that game? Probably not (laughs).”

Before any title hopes can become a reality, Smith first has to get back in the win column by taking out Vitor Petrino at UFC 301. Meanwhile, Pereira recently defended his title via a first round knockout over Jamahal Hill (watch highlights) at UFC 300 two weekends ago (April 13, 2024).

2024-04-25T01:37:14Z dg43tfdfdgfd