There is a pretty real dislike between Anthony Smith and Luke Rockhold, that has been going on for some time now. Anthony might be down to fight Luke, but only if he can stay awake long enough to actually scrap.
It has been a tough road for Smith since he was able to put together a good enough streak to fight Jon Jones for the light heavyweight title. He would lose this fight handily, before going on to drop two more in devastating fashion. However he was finally able to return to form over the weekend against Devin Clark, getting a submission win in a bout that was moved to the main event on short notice.
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Anthony Smith Still Dislikes Luke Rockhold
Following his return to form, some were wondering if Anthony Smith might be gunning for a bout with his rival and former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold. The two have gone back and forth for a while, and with similar records of late, not to mention Luke’s flirting with fighting soon, it seems like a good opportunity to make the fight. However speaking in a recent interview, Anthony is not exactly sold on the fight. While he still has a burning desire to punch Rockhold in the face, he is unsure that the former champ can actually make for a good fight.
“I hate Luke Rockhold. I would love to beat that guy up,” Smith said. “I just think that at the beginning of the Luke Rockhold and I beef, it didn’t make any sense at all because he wasn’t even in the division. Then he looked awful in the Jan (Blachowicz) fight, which I’m hindsight I guess doesn’t look bad anymore, but it just didn’t make any sense at the time. I think had this fight with Devin (Clarke) had been with Luke, it would have made sense. But Luke still hasn’t shown his ability to stay conscious long enough to have a real fight.”
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Burying The Hatchet
While Anthony Smith is still very much not a fan of Luke Rockhold, he is willing to let things go. While Rockhold considers returning to competition, the deciding factor is whether he would return at light heavyweight or middleweight. So if he is not competing at 205, Anthony says that there is no reason for the two to still have beef.
“There’s not too many people that get under my skin like that and Luke absolutely did,” Smith said. “At the end of the day, if we’re in different weight classes I can probably let it go. I’ve actually had other issues that weren’t as public, with other guys that are still in the UFC. Like me and Uriah Hall, we couldn’t even be in the same room at the same time. Me and Derek Brunson had some back and forth a little bit some years ago, when Strikeforce came over to the UFC. It’s kind of cool now, I see Uriah out and we’re all chummy and buddies and stuff, and me and Derek are on cordial terms. So I’m not against burying the hatchet and moving on and being an adult. I just don’t feel like Luke’s one of those guys you can do that with. I think his ego’s too big to do something like that.”
Would you ever want to see Anthony Smith and Luke Rockhold square off? How would that fight play out?
