Stephen A. Smith continues to comment on Donald Cerrone’s performance at UFC 246
Stephen A. Smith, one of the biggest on-air personalities in all of sports, took heat for his comments following UFC 246 in January.
Smith was overly critical of Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone’s performance in which Cerrone lost to Conor McGregor in just 40 seconds.
On Tuesday, Cerrone told ESPN that he wasn’t mentally there for the biggest of fight of his life. Following the interview, Smith went to twitter last night to take a shot at everyone who criticized him for his post-fight remarks on Cerrone.
“I’m (curious), so all you MMA folks — who I profoundly respect — am I off my rocker now???” Smith tweeted. “When you’ve covered sports intimately as a reporter for a quarter-century, you see things sometimes. I respect the hell out of (Donald Cerrone), but he just wasn’t there that night.”
Smith’s backlash came on the ESPN+ post-fight show in which he joined Michael Bisping, Chael Sonnen and Jon Anik. While breaking down the fight, Smith made following remarks.
“I’m quite disgusted,” Smith said. “Let me be very, very clear: I’m honored to be up here with you guys. I’m a spectator watching the sport. I expected to see more than 40 seconds. I predicted McGregor was going to win this fight inside of two rounds. I thought he would take him out.
“Here’s the deal: 15 seconds in, ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone was done. He got hit with those shoulders in the clinch and he was done. It looked like he gave up. It was just an atrocious performance on his part.”
Since those comments, Smith as engaged in arguments with fans, media, and UFC commentator Joe Rogan. He hasn’t been on a post-fight show since.
