Anthony Smith is more than happy to answer any challenge made to him but he is still trying to figure out why former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold keeps running his mouth.
After the UFC 235 main event was announced with Smith facing Jon Jones with the light heavyweight title up for grabs, Rockhold decided to take aim at the Nebraska native in his interviews.
Rockhold called Smith a ‘sloppy bum’ and questioned why he received a title shot after only three wins in the division.
While he would be more than happy to face Rockhold in the future, Smith has no idea why the former middleweight champion just decided to start trashing him without any sort of provocation.
“That’s what I don’t understand with the Rockhold thing. What the f—ck did I ever do to you? I’ve never done anything to you,” Smith stated ahead of his fight at UFC 235.
Obviously, Smith understands that a certain level of trash talk is expected ahead of a fight and he doesn’t really care about that when it comes to his opponents.
He doesn’t even mind when other fighters pick against him leading up to a contest.
Smith understands that everybody is entitled to an opinion and he holds no grudges against athletes who believe Jones will best him come Saturday night.
His problem with someone like Rockhold is that he’s commentating from the sidelines after going 1-2 in his past three fights, getting knocked out in both his losses and still hasn’t actually competed in the light heavyweight division.
“If I was Luke Rockhold with the chin he has, I wouldn’t be saying s—t about anybody,” Smith countered. “You’re not winning. You’re not even looking good. You’re not even being competitive.
“If you want to say, ‘I’d love to move into the division and I’d like to face Anthony Smith’, fine. That’s fine. We’ll do it. Me and Luke Rockhold, we’ll see each other in the near future. But you don’t have to be a f—king ass—le about it.”
When it comes to his title opportunity, Smith knows exactly why he earned the shot against Jones.
“Rockhold does use his head but that’s when he’s blocking punches” ~ Anthony Smith
He moved to 205-pounds last year and immediately snuffed former champion Rashad Evans and then did the same to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Smith capped off his year with a submission victory against former title contender Volkan Oezdemir and the reward was the chance to face Jones at UFC 235.
“When it comes to me, you don’t have to talk trash. Because of the way that I fight, because of the body of work I put in, because of the appearances that I’ve shown, you don’t have to talk s—t to me. All you have to do is sign on the line and promote it,” Smith said. “My fights promote themselves. That’s why I got the Jon Jones fight.”
As far as Rockhold goes, Smith promises if the opportunity is presented to him he will gladly accept that fight but the pointless jabs from him or anybody else not involved in the fight with Jones won’t earn them a showdown with him any sooner.
Smith has never turned down an opponent and he’s certainly not going to start with Luke Rockhold.
“They don’t use their f—king heads,” Smith said about fighters taking shots at him. “Rockhold does use his head but that’s when he’s blocking punches.”
