Anthony Smith opened up about his weight miss ahead of UFC 283 in January.
In January, the UFC returned to Brazil with a light heavyweight championship main event between former titleholder Glover Teixeira and Jamahal Hill. While not scheduled for the event, Smith made the long trip to act as the headliner’s official backup in the event Teixeira or Hill were unable to compete. However, ‘Lionheart’ ran into some trouble on the scale, weighing in four pounds over the light heavyweight limit of 205 pounds.
Fortunately, Smith’s services were not needed and fans were treated to a masterful performance from Jamahal Hill that ultimately resulted in the retirement of Teixeira in front of his home country. Appearing on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Smith addressed the weight miss, attributing it to an especially bad bout with the flu and a lingering sinus infection.
“I’d love to tell you,” Smith stated. “It’s a fairly simple story, but the problem is every time… Everyone always gets mad when you don’t give a reason for what you did or something that happened. They’re like, ‘He won’t even give us a reason. We don’t deserve a reason’ and they get all upset because you won’t say anything. The second you give the reason, you immediately become an excuse-maker. I’d love to tell you and it would make a lot of sense. You’d be like, ‘Holy sh*t, that makes a lot of sense.'”
#UFC283 main event backup Anthony Smith was 209 pounds on his first weigh-in attempt. He'll attempt to keep cutting, despite Glover Teixeira and Jamahal Hill already making weight.
Full results: https://t.co/gADEheO5pZ pic.twitter.com/idqWGLpQ9U
— MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) January 20, 2023
Anthony Smith Revealed That a Sinus Infection Affected His UFC 283 Weight Cut
“I was really sick,” Smith revealed. “The week before I was in the low 220s. I was like 221. I was waking up at 221 which is lower than I typically am. That Friday I flew home from Denver. I was leaving on Tuesday. I was really sick Friday. Saturday I went to the doctor. Really bad sinus infection and I had the flu. So they gave me all the meds. I get the steroid pack, all the antibiotics for the sinus infection. I’m supposed to leave Wednesday. Tuesday because of the meds and just being sick I ballooned to 235.
“We did all we could to get the weight off. I landed in Brazil at like 228. From Wednesday to Friday morning, I cut from 228 to 206. I was miserable.”
Originally scheduled to face Jamahal Hill this month, Anthony Smith will instead return to the Octagon on May 13 for a UFC Fight Night clash with heavy-handed Brazilian Johnny Walker. Smith will be looking to get back into the win column after coming up short against Magomed Ankalaev in July while Walker hopes to make it three in a row after back-to-back finishes of Ion Cutelaba and Paul Craig in his last two appearances.
