Anthony Smith believes win over Aleksandar Rakic brings him right back into title contention
With longtime reigning champion Jon Jones officially leaving the UFC’s light heavyweight division, it’s time for a new name to be crowned champion and other contenders to rise. Actually, the upcoming title fight between Dominick Reyes and Jan Blachowicz will be the first time since 2010 that there will be a light heavyweight champion not named Jon Jones or Daniel Cormier. One of those former contenders looking to get right back into the mix is Anthony Smith.
Smith will face Aleksandar Rakic this weekend at UFC Vegas 8, and he believes a big win over Rakic could really help elevate him back into contention. Back at UFC 235, Smith faced Jones for the light heavyweight title and dropped an unanimous decision loss to the former champion, even though he had an opportunity to take a DQ win after a foul was committed by Jones. After his loss to Jones, Smith went on to beat Alexander Gustafsson but most recently lost to Glover Teixeira back in May.
During his weekly radio show on Sirius XM, Smith explained why for the first time in years with the light heavyweight division being so wide open, there’s a lot of potential for big fights if he’s victorious on Saturday.
"A win puts me right back in title contention."
📽️ @lionheartasmith tells @RJcliffordMMA what's at stake for him this weekend and explains his path back to a LHW title shot. 👊 pic.twitter.com/hdwKt2Mo7k
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) August 25, 2020
“Yeah after I knock him [Aleksandar Rakic] out and then we’re going to figure it out. I think we’re going to have a big opportunity coming our way afterwards. The division kind of, it’s opened up, obviously, a lot. There’s a lot of interesting matchups that we’re going to be talking about, I don’t know. I’m looking forward to that Glover [Teixeira] vs Thiago Santos fight, to see what that looks like. Maybe we can just skip one of those idiots, too. Who knows?”
When asked what he feels is truly on the line this weekend for his career, Smith didn’t shy away from what a loss could do, but believes a win gets him a title shot as well.
“A title shot. I think that obviously sets me way back, but a win puts me right back in title contention. Probably going to have to win one more which is why that Thiago Santos-Glover Teixeira fight is so interesting to me. Not only do I have the opportunity to avenge one of my losses, because I have losses to both of those guys, those are both fights I’d love to have back. That’s huge. You beat one of those guys, there’s no one else in front of me, that opens everything up. It’s a big one.”
Anthony Smith is fully confident that while he may need to string together two wins in a row to get his second chance at light heavyweight gold, if he comes away with victories, there’s no denying his place as a title contender.
