Anthony Smith is putting a side of beef on his upcoming fight with Ryan Spann at UFC Vegas 37.
The UFC is in an off-week this week, but the headliners of the next card are already drawing the headlines. Wednesday, Anthony Smith took to the mic to respond to some comments made by his upcoming opponent, Ryan Spann.
The UFC shot a promo for the upcoming UFC Vegas 37 feature between these two. In the video, Spann took some shots at Smith. Smith had his chance to respond on the most recent episode of The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani.
“I don’t know, what a nerd. I just laughed at it the whole time, like what are you so mad about? He sounds a lot like he’s trying to convince himself,” Smith said. “Listen, I don’t want to take this too deep, because there’s no beef there. I definitely don’t have his respect, which is fine, I will next Saturday night, and I promise you that, but he’s not scary to me because he’s big, strong, and black. He’s like every single cousin I have on my dad’s side, like it’s not intimidating to me. Maybe he’s not used to that, but big black scary guys don’t make me nervous.”
Smith stated that he believes that Spann was trying to hype himself up and that he wasn’t taking the comments too seriously. At the end of the day, these two men will fight and the talk will be left in the past. Smith is coming into this bout with a two-fight winning streak. He is looking to work his way back up to the top and possibly set himself up with another title shot.
As for Spann, he has only lost one fight since coming to the UFC, and against some tough competition. Smith is sitting at #6 in the rankings while Spann is at number 11. A win over Smith could catapult Spann into the top ten and set him along his way to the top five.
Although Smith said that this trash talk is not a full-grown beef between these two men, there is still a full fight week to get through. Heated words could grow and make this bout a full-on grudge match.
Who do you think will win the main event between Anthony Smith and Ryan Spann at UFC Vegas 37 on September 18?
