Smith Feels Vindicated By Assessment
ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith was left vindicated by his comments about Donald Cerrone’s performance against Conor McGregor.
Cerrone suffered a quick 40-second TKO defeat to McGregor in the UFC 246 headliner back in January. It was an underwhelming and disappointing performance from “Cowboy” with many expecting him to put up a better fight.
Smith, in particular, lashed out at Cerrone’s performance following the fight. Among other things, he notably claimed he was disgusted by the showing, felt Cerrone gave up early on and that he couldn’t hack it on the big occasion. Those comments received a ton of backlash from the mixed martial arts community but Smith stood by what he believed.
And with Cerrone recent revealing that he didn’t show up for the fight and didn’t want to be there, Smith had a message for all his detractors.
“I’m, so all you MMA folks — who I profoundly respect — am I off my rocker now??? When you’ve covered sports intimately as a reporter for a quarter-century, you see things sometimes. I respect the hell out of @Cowboycerrone, but he just wasn’t there that night.”
I’m, so all you MMA folks — who I profoundly respect — am I off my rocker now??? When you’ve covered sports intimately as a reporter for a quarter-century, you see things sometimes. I respect the hell out of @Cowboycerrone, but he just wasn’t there that night.
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) April 29, 2020
While Smith can gloat a bit, it’s still incorrect to say that Cerrone gave up as even though he did have a slow start as he usually does, he was still overwhelmed by one of the best strikers in the sport in McGregor.
