Anthony Smith Says He's Waiting For the UFC To Give Him His First Fight
Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 03.18.2013
He has some ideas on who he'd like to face though...
Anthony Smith recently spoke with MMAjunkie about waiting for his debut fight with the UFC after his STrikeforce contract got transferred over and more. CHeck out the highlights:
On the status of his first fight: "They transferred my contract over to the UFC about two weeks ago, after I got off the injured list from the (Roger) Gracie fight. We talked to Joe Silva, and he's just looking for a matchup, so we're just waiting. I told him I'm open to any time. It doesn't really matter to me. I just want a name and a date. It doesn't matter. I'll take anything short notice because I'm back to training full-time, so I'll be ready whenever they need me to be."
On a potential grudge match with Derek Brunson: "It actually originally started before I even fought Roger Gracie. There's a bunch of people that are fans of mine, followers of mine. One person said, 'I'd like to see you and Derek Brunson fight,' after he fought Chris Leben. A bunch if people jumped on it like, 'Yeah, that's a great idea. That's awesome.' … Apparently that puckered his butt hole a little bit, but I blew that off."
On Brunson: "I'm the worst matchup for [Brunson] he could possibly ever have. If it's meant to be, it's meant to be. If he gets through Ronny Markes – and I don't think he will, and I would highly doubt he has a job after that – but if he does, and I get through my first fight, let's set it up and do it. I feel like he talks down to me when he says those kind of things like, 'Ha, ha. Do you really want a fight with me, bro?' Yeah, I do. I'll wreck you. Derek doesn't do anything that impresses me."
On a couple other people he'd like to fight: "I really like the Ed Herman fight. It's not anything disrespectful. It's just I really like Ed Herman's style. What I really want, I really want someone who wants to actually fight. I want someone that I'm going to be able to showcase my skills and be exciting and do what I love to do. I would love the Hector Lombard fight. If Adlan Amagov isn't already matched up, I'd love that rematch, too. Honestly, it doesn't matter to me. I would love to have a fight with anyone that's willing to put on a show. In order to have those exciting fights, it takes two. If one guy is trying to do his thing and just stay safe, I think everyone knows I live and die by the sword. I'm just there to fight my ass off and do everything I can to make the fans happy. Honestly, I don't know if I could fight any other way if I had to."
On being eager for his first UFC fight: "I'm sure that Joe Silva is annoyed with me right bow because I'm constantly pushing him. I just want to fight."
