There’s a reason Jiri Prochazka vs. Glover Teixeira 2 is not first up in the UFC’s light heavyweight plans, according to Anthony Smith.
Although ex-champ Teixeira is campaigning for a chance to make things right after a strategic error in the UFC 275 thriller, Smith believes the promotion wants to see how he does against Magomed Ankalaev before pulling the trigger.
“[UFC President] Dana [White’s] already said that this is the No. 1 contestants fight so the winner gets a shot at the title. I believe the fact they haven’t re-booked Glover & Jiri – or Jan Blachowicz vs. Jiri – is an indication that they are waiting to see what happens with Ankalaev & I,” Smith said to MMA Fighting. They’ll probably slide in one of these guys if we do something that is a bit too bad. If we do our best, Ankalaev or I will win.
“Listen Ankalaev is known for engaging in dull fights. I am not. I’ve been in one boring fight out of 50. I don’t suspect there’s going to be too many more of those.”
Smith, of course, is referring to a snoozer in his lone bid for the light heavyweight belt held by Jon Jones; their UFC 235 headliner ended in a lopsided loss.
Since then, Smith’s downs in the octagon have been replaced by ups – he’s won three straight, all by first-round finish. That’s contrasted by three straight decision wins from Ankalaev including back-to-back triumphs over one-time title challengers Volkan Oezdemir and Thiago Santos.
Earlier in his career, Ankalaev was a finishing machine with stoppages in four of five appearances following a debut loss to Paul Craig.
“I love the style matchup,” Smith said of the Dagestani light-heavy. It’s tailor-made for me .”
Smith knows too that excitement is hard to match with Prochazka’s and Teixeiras’ “Fight of the year” candidates.
“As far as meaningful title fights, it’s not up there at all, as far as the historical value and things like that,” Smith said. “As far as just pure excitement watching it, I don’t think there’s a close second right now.”
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