Former undisputed light heavyweight championship challenger, Anthony Smith has responded to claims from former two-time bantamweight best, T.J. Dillashaw that he will never clinch an Octagon crown, labelling the latter a “juicehead”.
Smith, the current number eleven ranked light heavyweight contender, has been sidelined since he featured at UFC 303 just last month, dropping a short-notice unanimous decision loss against Roman Dolidze.
Seeing his record drop to 38-20 as a result, Nebraska veteran, Smith admitted the loss likely put the final nail in the proverbial coffin of his search for a UFC crown, something the above-mentioned, Dillashaw echoed – describing him as a “quitter”.
Anthony Smith labels T.J. Dillashaw a “juicehead”
And replying to Dillashaw’s comments, Smith claimed he had no idea why the Angels Camp veteran had chose to make personal remarks about him, before pointing to his prior two-year suspension for EPO use, calling him a “juicehead”.
“If he (T.J. Dillashaw) doesn’t believe I’ll ever be champion, that’s totally fine, that’s 100% fine, this’s his opinion,” Anthony Smith told Believe You Me. “It was the talking about, ‘He must’ve given himself that nickname’ and that I’m a ‘quitter’ and I ‘give up’, the very personal disrespect part of it… Long story short, I don’t know what his problem with me is.”
“Like anybody who has been accused of cheating their entire career and then caught taking performance-enhancing drugs and been a juicehead his entire career and is not in the testing pool so we all know exactly what he’s doing,” Anthony Smith continued. “I don’t know why I would take the opinion of him to heart.”
Confirming he would not be making good on a rumored return to action, Dillashaw revealed he still cannot lift his arm over his head following a slew of major surgical procedures in order to address shoulder injuries.
What are your thoughts on Anthony Smith’s rivalry with T.J. Dillashaw?