Smith on Rockhold’s KO loss: I would have loved to put him out like that

Anthony Smith says Luke Rockhold’s pre-fight ‘cockiness’ caught up to him after suffering a KO loss this past weekend at UFC 239. Anthony Smith was glad to see Luke Rockhold lose the way he did this past weekend at UFC 239, praising the man…

Anthony Smith says Luke Rockhold’s pre-fight ‘cockiness’ caught up to him after suffering a KO loss this past weekend at UFC 239.

Anthony Smith was glad to see Luke Rockhold lose the way he did this past weekend at UFC 239, praising the man the defeated Rockhold, Jan Blachowicz, as the ‘dark horse’ of the light heavyweight division.

Rockhold suffered a second round knockout loss to Blachowicz in his light heavyweight debut at UFC 239. Smith expressed his distaste for the ‘pretty boy’ Rockhold earlier this year and vowed to drill a hole through his face when he gets the chance. Talking to SiriusXM Fight Nation, Smith wished he would have been the man to hand Rockhold that loss.

“I would have loved to have been the guy that put Rockhold out like that, but I think it serves him right,” Smith said. “All the trash talk, all the ‘Anthony Smith is a bum, Gustafsson’s gonna roll over him and I’m gonna starch Jan,’ and just the disrespect and just looking right over Jan. I’ve been telling everybody that asks, Jan Blachowicz is the dark horse in the division.” (Transcription via MMA Fighting)

Although “Lionheart” did empathise with Rockhold’s injury he sustained in his knockout loss, Smith said that the former middleweight champion’s trash talk has always come around to bite him, and his ‘cockiness’ caught up with him yet again.

“So it’s unfortunate that his jaw is broken. I don’t want anybody to get hurt but it is nice to, again, see Rockhold get it shoved right in his face. Every single time he’s trashed talked somebody and been too cocky and thought he was too good for everybody and that his sh-t doesn’t stink, he ends up being the one that looks stupid. So I’m glad that the MMA gods made sure that that kept happening.”

“Again, it’s unfortunate,” Smith said. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt but I think that all the embarrassment and the finger-pointing and the laughing that’s happening to him right now, I think he absolutely deserves it.”

Following Jon Jones’ split decision win in the main event of UFC 239 over Thiago Santos, Smith called for a rematch with Jones. The 30-year-old lost to Jones by unanimous decision at UFC 235 in March, but he bounced back with a third-round submission over Alexander Gustafsson at UFC Stockholm in June.