Anthony Smith says there’s no rivalry between him and UFC gentle heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.
Smith and Pereira (10-2 MMA, 7-1 UFC) had selection phrases for one another stemming from “Lionheart” questioning if Pereira’s measurement would play an element at gentle heavyweight.
That brought on Pereira to go off on Smith, who was baffled by his response. The previous title challenger initially welcomed the rivalry however not a lot.
“That’s 100% it: He’s obtained one thing I would like,” Smith advised MMA Junkie. “That’s it. There’s no beef. Personally from what I perceive and from all the things I’ve seen within the again and stuff, he looks as if a fairly enjoyable and fairly humorous man. He’s obtained a great humorousness. I feel in an alternate universe we might most likely be mates and have a great time hanging out.”
Smith (37-19 MMA, 12-9 UFC) meets Vitor Petrino (11-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) on Saturday’s UFC 301 (Pay-per-view/ESPN/ESPN+) essential card at Rio Area in Rio de Janeiro.
Smith nearly crossed paths with Pereira who’s additionally in Rio, however the UFC prevented that from occurring.
“I heard all of the commotion (with Daniel Cormier and Alex Pereira wrestling within the hallway),” Smith stated. “Actually humorous, I used to be in my media day and naturally they ask me questions and I speak about Alex, then I stroll out of the media day room and there’s like three safety guards, they usually’re like, ‘OK, we’ve obtained to stroll you over right here.’
“I used to be like, ‘That’s bizarre.’ However I’ve my greatest pal and my boxing coach and my jiu-jitsu coach and we’re simply speaking and I used to be like, ‘That was bizarre. There wasn’t safety with me this complete time.’ I believed possibly Vitor (Petrino) was standing over there and my boxing coach is like, ‘You’re an fool, Alex Pereira was proper there.’ I didn’t see him in any respect.”
Smith has been vital of Pereira’s general skillset up to now, so he understands why the UFC would slightly they didn’t come throughout one another.
“For positive (safety was simply taking precautions),” Smith stated. “Simply ensuring that nothing occurs. I’m an expert. I don’t have any beef with Alex. He doesn’t like what I’ve to say on a regular basis, however I don’t assume there’s an precise beef there.”
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