Roger Gracie is certainly keeping his family name significant in modern MMA. Sometimes a Gracie only needs one submission attempt to finish a fight, and Anthony Smith found that out first hand. Giving credit where credit is due, Smith was getting the better of the striking, and wasn’t allowing Gracie to close the distance, but despite a solid performance in the first round, Gracie quickly answered back. Gracie came out in the second round more aggressive, and was successful in taking the fight to the ground which led to the inevitable submission finish.
It was surprising that Smith took a short amount of time to recover after the accidental eye poke. It’s doubtful that the eye poke is the reason Gracie was able to close the distance to set up the finish of the fight, but nonetheless, he came out in the second round with a different kind of energy. He made clear intensions to impose his Jiu-Jitsu, and once the fight hit the ground, it was the beginning of the end, as Gracie shortly after tapped Smith with an arm triangle choke.
With two decisive wins at his new weight class, Gracie has surely secured a spot for himself in the UFC’s middleweight division. Although Anthony Smith has nothing to be ashamed of, I don’t know if I can say the same for him. A specific intriguing fight for Gracie’s UFC debut would be an all out grappling chess battle with fellow Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, Rousimar Palhares.
– Ryan “Fight Freek” Poli