Anthony Smith has made no secret of his desires to punch Luke Rockhold repeatedly in the face, even if he had to settle for doing it in the middle of any available aisle at your local Walmart. But if Luke Rockhold comes up short against Jan Blachowicz next month at UFC 239, that may be exactly where the fight would need to take place, because it won’t be in the Ocatgon (Via MMA Fighting):
“It’s the same thing with [Luke] Rockhold, you want to talk all that s—t, now you’ve got to do your job. Now you’ve got to earn it,” Smith said on The Ariel Helwani MMA Show recently. “I don’t owe you s—t. Now you’ve got to come to me and you’ve got to do something to deserve it. That’s a good position to be in.”
That position was earned with an impressive submission victory by Anthony Smith over Alexander Gustafsson in the main event of UFC Stockholm. Having now claimed the #3 spot in the rankings after this victory, the only fighters ahead of Smith in the rankings are Daniel Cormier, who is currently occupied at heavyweight with a retirement looming, and Thiago Santos, who will be receiving his title shot next month at the same UFC 239 pay per view Luke Rockhold will be competing in. So Anthony Smith is in a comfortable position to take time off, heal up, and watch how everything unfolds in the light heavyweight division:
“Let Thiago [Santos] and Jon fight, we’ll see how that shakes out. Jan [Blachowicz] and f—k head gotta do their thing and then we’ll see,” Smith said regarding whom is next for him. “Johnny Walker’s out there, I think he’s gotta prove himself. I think he’s relatively untested. That’s why it’s good that I’m taking myself out for a little bit. I’m going to be down for a while so let’s see where the division shakes out and we’ll go from there.”
Do you believe a Luke Rockhold victory over Jan Blachowicz guarantees a Anthony Smith/Luke Rockhold grudge match?
