Anthony Smith expects to finish Glover Teixeira, fight Jan Blachowicz next
Anthony Smith has set up his 2020 and it begins with fighting Glover Teixeira in the main event of UFC Lincoln.
Originally, the UFC wanted this fight to take place at UFC Brasilia but for Smith, he is glad that is not the case as he is getting a hometown fight.
Entering this fight, Smith and Teixeira have respect for one another but “Lionheart” expects a tough fight when they enter the Octagon.
“He’s one of the good guys in this sport and, especially these days, I think some of those guys are a dying breed,” Smith said to MMA Junkie. “He’s just always been nothing but respectful to me. He helped me out a lot in Brazil. Any time we see each other, it’s an embrace, it’s a handshake and a hug. The last time I saw Glover, we had a beer together, so there’s no beef there.
“We’re both extremely high-level competitors. I know he’s competitive and he’s super-powerful and dangerous. So you can’t be too wrapped up in how nice a guy he is, because he’s going to go out there and try to take my head off, for sure.”
Although Anthony Smith respects Glover Teixeira, he knows he’s going in there to get his hand raised and expects to do just that. He also says he’ll finish the Brazilian.
“I think it’ll be a third or fourth-round finish,” Smith said. “I’m not sure if it’ll be a knockout or a submission. But I think that eventually, he’ll get frustrated and he’ll have to start taking bad shots. Whether I can take advantage of that with a submission or a knockout, I’m not sure. It’ll take me a little while.
“Glover’s a tough dude, he’s crafty, he’s been around a long time. It’s going to take a while to break a guy like that down and mentally, he’s hard to break. I do believe I’ll finish Glover, though.”
If Anthony Smith does just that, he wants to fight Jan Blachowicz next in a number one contender bout.
“Most likely Jan, because he’s coming off a win,” Smith concluded. “I would rather fight Jan, because he’s coming off a win, with four phenomenal performances against four tough guys. That’s the fight I want after Glover. But you can’t look through Glover – that’s when you start running into big problems.”
