How one decision has made all the difference for UFC dark horse title contender Anthony Smith
With more than 500 fighters under contract and cards being held around the world just about every week, it takes a lot for a UFC fighter to break out of the pack and get noticed.
Knocking out former light heavyweight champions in less than 90 seconds each in back-to-back fights is a good way to start.
It’s now, though, after those wins over Rashad Evans (in 53 seconds) and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (one minute, 29 seconds) that the real work begins for Anthony Smith.
For a guy who turned to fighting after seeing a flyer in a Subway restaurant in Nebraska and who was cut after losing his UFC debut in under two minutes, these are heady times.
Smith will face Volkan Oezdemir Saturday at UFC Fight Night 138 in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, and believes a light heavyweight title shot will follow with a win.
It’s a remarkable rise that Smith attributes to what he calls “a perfect storm” of events.
“A lot of [my recent success] is directly attributable to the weight cut, but I think there’s kind of a perfect storm going on here,” Smith said. “I’m moving into my physical prime. I just turned 30 so things are really clicking there. I think my mental strengths and abilities are matching my physical abilities at this point and without cutting all that weight, I can really spend an entire training camp focusing on getting better, so I’m making astronomical gains in my skill set from one fight to the next because I’m not cutting 35 or 40 pounds.”
So many fighters torture their bodies by trying to fight at the absolute lowest weight possible, and Smith was no different. He is 6-foot-4 with a big frame, but was cutting more than 40 pounds to get to the middleweight limit of 185 pounds.
It was challenging, to say the least, and not always successful. Smith has a natural talent for fighting and is highly athletic, so he adapted, but the difference in him fighting at 185 vs, 205 is stark. He’s a powerful force at light heavyweight and can go all out the entire fight, not having to preserve energy. He was draining himself so much by getting to middleweight that he left a lot in the gym.
“It’s amazing the things you can do when you’re happy and not miserable,” Smith said.
He’s happy because he’s not starving or dehydrating himself and he’s able to compete to the best of his abilities. He’s a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, but as he’s shown in his wins over Rua and Evans, he packs plenty of power.
The fight with Oezdemir is intriguing because of what they bring. Oezdemir zoomed to the top of the rankings in 2018 by blowing out Misha Cirkunov and Jimi Manuwa in 28 and 42 seconds, respectively. That earned him a title bout against Daniel Cormier at UFC 220 in Boston, a match that he wasn’t ready for yet. Cormier finished Oezdemir at 2:20 of the second.
So Oezdemir, who is ranked second at light heavyweight, will be looking for an impressive victory to position himself to fight the winner of the Dec. 29 title fight at UFC 232 between ex-champion Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson. They are fighting for a belt that will be stripped from Cormier.
Given where Oezdemir is in the rankings, he could be next for the Jones-Gustafsson winner if he is impressive in beating Smith. But Smith is optimistic that despite being 10th in the rankings and having seven fighters between himself and Oezdemir, a victory will put him into a title shot next year.
And much of it goes back to his decision after an exciting loss at middleweight to Thiago Santos to move to light heavyweight.
Smith said he is an example of how good the UFC could be if fighters didn’t try to shoehorn themselves into a division where they don’t belong.
“I think they need to look at guys like me and see the product I’m able to bring to the table now,” Smith said. “Imagine we had an entire roster of guys who felt like I do every time now. The level of competition; the level of fights that we would have, I’m telling you, if every guy moved up a weight class and stopped cutting weight, the product the UFC could bring to the table would be nowhere close to where it is now.
“It would be shocking how good some of these guys really could be.”
Smith is an example of that, but if he beats a stone-cold killer like Oezdemir, it might have an impact on his peers. He said education is needed for coaches and trainers about the dangers of dehydration during weight cuts.
“As fighters, we’re so ignorant sometimes,” Smith said. “We know exactly how dangerous it is, but I do think that educating people that are supporting the fighters, the people who are trying to help them make those decisions [about what weight class to compete in] absolutely makes a lot of sense.
“But the more guys who move up and do well, like ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone and me and whoever else, I think we just need to be louder about it. We should be saying, ‘Listen, this isn’t that hard.’ These guys aren’t that much bigger. It’s not that big of a deal. Any advantage I was gaining by being the larger man at 185 I was immediately losing by being depleted and feeling like dog [expletive] all the time. If you weighed the pros and cons, I was losing much more than I was gaining trying to fight [at a lower class].”
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