A former foe of the UFC 239 headliners, Anthony Smith believes Jon Jones will emerge victorious over Thiago Santos.
Smith competed against both Jones and Santos. He fell short in his bid to become a UFC light heavyweight champion back in March when he suffered a unanimous decision loss to “Bones.” Back in Feb. 2018, “Lionheart” was defeated by Santos via TKO in a middleweight bout.
Smith Picks Jones To Beat Santos
Smith spoke to Dan Hardy for BT Sport ahead of tonight’s (July 6) UFC 239 card. The third-ranked UFC light heavyweight said Jones may try to play Santos’ game, but eventually the fight will go to the ground:
“Yeah because that’s what he does. He took down ‘DC,’ he made it a point to take down Chael Sonnen. He stood in the boxing range and boxed ‘Rampage’ Jackson. Sometimes I think Jon just does stuff to prove a point. And I made a mistake by standing on the outside with Thiago and those kicks are so fast and the explosions are so big that sometimes you don’t know where it’s going. So I don’t see Jon playing in the kicking range with him, but I think he’s gonna force Thiago to stay way out. And I agree with you, I think he’s gonna clinch him, he’s gonna take him down on his entries. And I really think Thaigo Santos is gonna have a really bad night on his back with Jon Jones.”
When asked if this is Jones’ fight to lose, Smith said he believes that is the case.
“It is, this is Jon Jones’ fight to lose. Again, Thiago Santos is so dangerous. If he got a clean shot on an elephant he’d put it down. But it’s not set up well. And I think Jon made a really good point, it’s not that you throw the hard shots it’s how you set those up. And I just think Thiago’s not the most tactical fighter out there. And that’s what got him here. That’s what brought him to the dance. That’s why he is who he is, but Jon Jones is just a different animal. If Jon loses this fight, it’s gonna be on his own terms. I just think that he’s a little too much for Thiago.”
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