Anthony Smith seems to be the front-runner to face newly-crowned Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, after “Bones” re-claimed the top spot by knocking out Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 232.
See the video replay here.
Corey Anderson, however, isn’t too convinced “Lionheart” should be considered in front of him. Especially since he hasn’t earned his strips. Taking to social media, “Overtime” made his case to get the next title shot against “Bones.”
@JonnyBones F what the people talking about, I’m your huckleberry. Everybody else is booked and Smith hasn’t earned his stripes. @ufc @AliAbdelaziz00 @danawhite @Mickmaynard2 @arielhelwani @MMAjunkie pic.twitter.com/n6Q3bnhB8u
— Corey Anderson UFC (@CoreyA_MMA) January 1, 2019
“@JonnyBones F what the people talking about, I’m your huckleberry. Everybody else is booked and Smith hasn’t earned his stripes.” Anderson tweeted. If Glover beats Corey it’ll put him in line for a title shot’ I beat him! ‘A win at UFC 232 for Ilir could argue he’s next to fight for the title’ I beat him! Anthony Smith has beat Shogun Rua, Rashad Evans who came up from 185, and his only top 10 for Volkan [Oezdemir]. [Alexander Gustafsson] just fought. Jan Blachowicz has only beat 1 top 10 guy.. I ate him alive. I mauled Pat Cummins when he was in the top 10. I’ve got 13 fights in the 205 division, yes I’ve got losses, but I’ve been battling all ranked opponents since my 3rd fight in the UFC.. Who else is on a 3 fight win streak in 2018 against ALL top 10 guys? Only 1 of my losses was to a non top 10-Gian Villante my 5th fight ever in 2014. And we all know they cheated me on my fight against Shogun, granted it was one of my worst performances. I don’t finish but I dominate and I win. Smith doesn’t deserve or want that fight, hes just trying to talk his way into a pay day. He was a punching bag against Volkan til he got tired. I want the challenge, I want that belt, and I want that fight. I WANT THAT STRAP!”
For his part, Jones seems open to the idea of fighting Anderson next.
You sure you want this smoke @CoreyA_MMA
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) January 1, 2019
Haha ma nigga (in my best training day voice) https://t.co/UbWy00ZTho
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) January 1, 2019
You can have his smoke, just not his liquor.
Corey also competed at UFC 232 this past Saturday night (Dec. 29, 2018), taking on and defeating Ilir Latifi to earn his third straight win (recap here). Prior to that, Corey scored wins over Glover Teixeira and Patrick Cummins.
As for Smith, he better maintain that “anytime, anywhere” attitude if he doesn’t want Anderson cutting in line to steal a title shot that may not 100-percent be his. That said, who do you believe should get next shot against Jones: Anderson or Smith?