Anthony Smith claims he wouldn’t hesitate to ditch his cornermen if they ever stop one of his fights.
A lot has been made over Smith’s fifth-round TKO loss to Glover Teixeira. Many believe the fight should’ve been stopped sooner. “Lionheart’s” corner took serious heat as they didn’t throw in the towel after Smith told them his teeth were falling out before the final frame began.
Anthony Smith Explains Rule He Has For Corner
Speaking to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, Smith revealed that he has a rule in place where his cornermen aren’t allowed to stop any of his fights. If they ignore that rule, Smith says he wouldn’t have them corner him again (via BJPenn.com).
“I feel bad because they’re in a tough spot. I don’t know if they wanted to stop it or if they thought about it. But, I take that option away from them,” Smith said to ESPN MMA. “Before any of this ever happened, before anything, I took that option away a long time ago. If you want to sit in my corner, that’s my rule. You don’t stop the fight. Leave it in my hands. Don’t take it out of my hands. So, I’ve told them before, if you stop the fight, if you throw the towel in, you can go ahead and walk back to the locker room by yourself because I’ll never stand by you again.
“I don’t need liabilities in my corner. The way that I fight, I end up in shitty spots sometimes. And that’s just how it goes. Most of the time, I’ve been able to come back and win. And sometimes, you can’t. Sometimes you just run out of time, and sometimes it’s just too high of a hill to climb,” Anthony Smith continued. “But, I don’t need those liabilities. I don’t need to be getting to bad spots, working my ass off to try to get to a better position, and constantly have in the back of my head worrying that my corners gonna step in and not give me the opportunity.”
The hoopla surrounding Smith vs. Teixeira was enough that referee Jason Herzog apologized for not stopping the fight sooner. Smith responded to this by calling the apology, “cowardly.” Smith did end up telling Helwani that he has no issue with Herzog as a referee.
Smith has now gone 1-2 in his last three outings. “Lionheart” was trying to get back in title contention, but his loss to the 40-year-old Teixeira is certainly a step backward. This was Smith’s first bout in over 11 months.
