Anthony Smith Acknowledges "Glaring Hole" In His Game Following Johnny Walker Loss: "It's Become A Liability"

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Anthony Smith endured a troublesome night time in Charlotte this previous weekend, together with his co-main occasion bout in opposition to Johnny Walker leading to solely the second shedding skid of his UFC profession.

Following a TKO defeat to Magomed Ankalaev final July, throughout which he suffered a severe ankle harm, Smith hoped to rebound in his first outing of 2023 and defend his place inside the sunshine heavyweight prime 5.

That finally did not come to fruition, nonetheless, with Walker entering title contention courtesy of a convincing unanimous decision victory at UFC Battle Evening: Rozenstruik vs. Almeida.

Whereas the Brazilian celebrates his win and subsequent rank rise, “Lionheart” has been left reflecting on one other setback — and he is been extraordinarily trustworthy together with his evaluation of the loss.

Smith Pinpoints His Main Weak point

Throughout the newest episode of Michael Bisping’s Consider You Me podcast, Smith supplied a real analysis of his ongoing struggles, and named a serious weak point that has change into a “legal responsibility” for him contained in the Octagon.

“There’s a obvious gap in my recreation. It is the leg kicks. It is change into a legal responsibility at this level,” Smith stated. “It isn’t even a gap in my recreation anymore, it is a legal responsibility. I would like to see the numbers and see what number of leg kicks I’ve absorbed in my UFC profession. It is gotta be within the 1000’s. At this level, checking them is not even ok… It damage worse to test it than to simply elevate it and take it.

“I feel, over time, I’ve taken so many who my leg simply is not taking them in addition to it used to. We have addressed it again and again. We have modified my stance, we have modified my motion, we have modified the block,” Smith continued. “Andrew Sanchez destroyed my leg with leg kicks, Jon Jones destroyed my leg with leg kicks, Volkan Oezdemir destroyed my leg with leg kicks, Héctor Lombard, even Alexander Gustafsson somewhat bit; Aleksandar Rakić put me down with two. It is a legal responsibility.”

Smith went on to verify that his lead leg was compromised inside the opening minutes in opposition to Walker this previous Saturday. With motion a key element of his recreation, “Lionheart” prompt that he is ceaselessly being rendered a ‘sitting duck’ by onslaughts of centered offense in opposition to the limb.

With that stated, Smith will little doubt look to rectify the difficulty earlier than returning to the cage. Whereas many believed a retirement was incoming after the previous title challenger eliminated his gloves contained in the Octagon, he’s since insisted that his story is not fully written.