Anthony Smith has recently taken aim at some rivals in the light heavyweight division, first taking aim at former UFC Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold and now he has set the sights on Corey Anderson.
An angry Smith claims that Anderson turns down fights that the fighter thinks aren't winnable, plus Smith says he’s tired of cleaning up Anderson’s messes.
“He’s just mad. He’s just always talking sh*t,” Smith said to Submission Radio (via Jed Meshew of MMA Fighting). “He’s like trying to take a page out of Luke Rockhold’s book. I haven’t done anything to Corey expect for clean up his f*cking mess. They offered me a fight with Corey Anderson in Lincoln, Nebraska. He turned it down because he wasn’t ready. Then not long after that, I took a fight with Shogun, who they offered to him first and he turned it down, so then I took it because he wouldn’t. Then Glover Teixeira needed an opponent like a week later, and he takes that fight. So, he turns down me, he turns down Shogun, and then takes Glover because that’s a fight that in his head he feels he can win. He won’t take a fight with anybody that he’s not 100 percent sure he can beat. So, he goes in against a guy who’s known to be taken down and held there, and wins the fight and wants to talk sh*t like he’s the best in the world. Alright, fine. Whatever, not a big deal. Then I didn’t hear anything from Corey. So, because we’re in the god damn locker room and he’s feeling really god damn stupid because he knows that I know all that stuff, so he won’t even look at me. So, then they offer him the Gus fight after I fight Jon Jones, and he won’t take it. So, then I take it, and he tries to go back and say, ‘No, no, no, no, I’ll take it now, I’ll take it now’. I was like, it’s too late, I already signed it, you idiot. Here I am cleaning up your god damn mess again. Like, fine. So, from now on I hope they offer Corey Anderson the title shot, because it means I’ll probably end up with it.”
Anderson has called out Smith in the past, but a fight between the two hasn’t come together at this point in time.
Smith also claims that nobody wants to watch Anderson hump somebody’s leg for fifteen minutes, but Smith also wishes that Anderson would just become a real fighter.
“Again, it’s another dude that I’ve never done anything to,” Smith said. “Like, he’s just mad because you’ve been in the division for how many years, and haven’t even sniffed a title shot, and then guys like me and Thiago and have three fights and get one. There’s a reason. It’s not because we sell anymore tickets than you, it’s not because we’re ‘better than you’. We just go out there and we put it on the line and we take fights when they’re offered. Like, I’m not saying be a company guy and suck Dana’s d*ck or anything, but be a god damn fighter. And if you have a style that’s kind of dependent on winning decisions, then just count on winning a hell lot more of them, cause that’s just how the game goes. No one wants to watch you f*cking dry hump someone’s leg for 15 minutes, unless they’re a big Jiu Jitsu fan. No one wants to see it. And I’m a Jiu Jitsu guy at heart, so I just don’t know what it is about me that rubs some of these guys the wrong way.”
Neither Smith or Anderson are booked for fights at the moment, so the longtime rivals may finally have a chance to settle their differences in the Octagon.
