Glover Teixeira beat the brakes off Anthony Smith in the main event of UFC on ESPN+ 29 on May 13, leading to widespread and largely ill-informed criticism of referee Jason Herzog. However, Smith took a pretty quick turn around fight, and now faces Aleksander Rakic in the main event of UFC on ESPN+ 33 on Saturday.
I heal super quick, Smith to Damon Martin for MMA Fighting. Honestly, I wasn’t even that sore after the fight. I keep telling people it’s not as bad as you thought it was.”
Smith attributes fan concern over the fight to the empty arena, which amplifies noise in the Octagon.
“When you’re in there, that’s what they sound like each and every time,” he explained. “Especially the people at home, they’re going ‘Jesus Christ, someone stop this’ and I’m like what are you talking about? Those aren’t even hard shots. It’s just what it sounds like.
“This is going to sound nuts, too, but I wish I could have the same mentality I have going into my next fight after a loss going into every fight. … I feel exactly the same as I did with the Gustafsson fight.”
“You should have seen the looks on these people’s faces [before the Gustafsson fight] when I said I didn’t come here to win. … That’s not my goal. … I just wanted to perform and get that bad feeling out of my stomach. I just wanted to throw the f*** down. That was it. … I’m not really focused on beating Rakic. Honestly, he’s super dangerous so that’s kind of fun for me. I don’t know what it is. Maybe I’m crazy.
“I don’t give a s*** about Aleksander Rakic. … I s*** you not, I’ve never seen Aleksander Rakic fight an entire fight. … I’m focused on myself, and it seems to be when I’m focused on myself and I’m not worried about what he’s going to do or where this puts me or what’s at stake, I don’t really give a s***. … When I care less, I’m really hard to beat.”
I’m fresh out of f***s to give and I couldn’t be happier. I’m in such a good place right now. I’ve never lost two in a row in the UFC. It’s never happened and I think it’s because of this mindset I’m in right now. I am out of f***’s to give. I just want to go fight and have fun.
When my back’s against the wall, is when I’m most dangerous. When I fail, I always bounce back stronger. Every time. I don’t expect this to be any different. I’m going to go in there and whatever happens, happens.”
