As promised, Anthony Smith cut a promo on Alex Pereira in the wake of UFC 303 — though it’s probably not the one fight fans were expecting.
That’s because “Lionheart” was defeated by Roman Dolidze back on June 29 in Las Vegas, shortly before “Poatan” defended his light heavyweight title by stopping Jiri Prochazka in the UFC 303 main event.
As a result, Smith has been booted from the Pereira sweepstakes.
“Alex and I have this very cool relationship,” Smith told co-host Michael Bisping on Believe You Me. “I think it’s very, very cool what we have going on. I lost and he won, he’s the champion, maybe there is nothing there, ever. We’re very … I think just competitive in general, but when we’re in person, I thought it was so cool how we have a lot of respect for each other. Because it’s not awkward in person, it’s really not. It’s a head nod, acknowledgement, we don’t talk or shake hands or anything like that but we have no problem standing right next to each other in a room, doing media together. Not together, but in the same areas at the same time.”
I guess this awkward video featuring Smith and Pereira was taken out of context.
“I think it’s really cool how we have this competitive thing … I don’t even wanna say it’s a negative thing, whatever it is, we kinda go back and forth from time to time. His team has always been so cool to me before, they’ve always been super cool to me,” Smith continued. “It’s unfair of me to speak about him as a fighter and then we get all this riled-up nonsense. I think it would be unfair of me to not say on the flip side how in social situations or when we’re in person, how super respectful he is and how kind his team and coaches and all those people around are. It’s unfair of me to only talk about him only as a competitor, everything’s always cool with us in person.”
That explanation should satisfy all those “stupid” UFC fans.
Smith, currently ranked No. 11 at 205 pounds, was an outspoken critic when it came to Pereira’s title reign, which led to some harsh words from the Brazilian striker. Perhaps that’s water under the bridge after UFC 303, or maybe Smith has finally acknowledged that “Poatan” is here to stay.
Sounds like No. 2-ranked Magomed Ankalaev is happy to pick up where “Lionheart” left off.