UFC Vegas 83 blew the roof off UFC Apex last Saturday night (Dec. 9, 2023) in Las Vegas, Nevada, leaving plenty of fighters feeling the post-fight blues. Among them was Shannon Ross, who suffered his fourth straight defeat, all inside the Octagon, after getting stopped by Hyun Sung Park.
And Chris Gutierrez, who was thoroughly dominated by Song Yadong for 25 minutes in the main event of the evening. But which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the show?
Anthony Smith.
“Lionheart” did Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) a solid by agreeing to step in to face Khalil Rountree on a little under two week’s notice. Unfortunately for the former light heavyweight title contender, the night simply wasn’t his to enjoy.
Though he tried his best to muster up some offense while avoiding the hulking striker’s bombs, he simply couldn’t put it all together. And a lot of the credit has to go to Rountree, who has been firing on all cylinders for a while now. He tied a bow on his fifth straight win in the third and final round by tagging Smith with two devastating strikes that sent him crashing to the canvas.
A lot of credit to “War Horse,” who showed a lot of restraint by allowing the referee plenty of time to go in and stop the fight before he landed a hammer fist that was locked, loaded and ready to hit its target. While Rountree is trending upward, Smith is going the opposite way because he has now lost three of his last four fights.
Afterward. Smith apologized for his latest performance and setback.
“Congrats to Khalil and his team, hell of a performance and you deserved it,” he wrote on Instagram. “Sorry to everyone who supports me. I gave it my all, sometimes that’s not enough.”
As for what’s next for Smith, perhaps a showdown against Ion Cutelaba is in order. Granted. Cutelaba isn’t ranked in the Top 15 at the moment, but there isn’t anyone on that list that is ranked below Smith that isn’t already booked or flat out makes sense.
As for Cutelaba, he is also 1-3 in his last four fights and most recently snapped his three-fight losing streak by knocking out Tanner Boser this past April. He was set to make his own return this past October before he was pulled from his fight against Philipe Lins. At this point, however, there simply is no telling where Smith’s head is, as far as professional fighting career goes, but we could get an idea in the coming weeks and months.
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