One-time UFC mild heavyweight title challenger Anthony Smith makes no excuses for coming in heavy because the backup for the UFC 283 title battle between Jamahal Hill and Glover Teixeira.
“It wasn’t for a scarcity of effort,” mentioned Smith on the Believe You Me podcast he shares with UFC Corridor of Famer Michael Bisping. “I spent 48 straight hours chopping weight. It wasn’t a scarcity of effort. Nobody noticed me on the dimensions trying like I had an extra 20 kilos to lose. I acquired shut, however it wasn’t shut sufficient, and that’s my fault – it’ll by no means occur once more.
“I’ll be the primary one on the dimensions for my subsequent battle. And I’m not a serial weight-misser. It occurs, and it wasn’t on objective. I apologized to everybody that it mattered to.”
Smith, who took the backup job after Hill was pulled from their UFC Vegas 71 battle, got here in at 209 kilos, or four pounds over the strict 205-pound limit set for light-heavyweight title fights. It was his first miss on a UFC scale.
Because it turned out, Smith’s providers weren’t wanted after Hill and Teixeira each made weight, a proven fact that helped ease tensions with the UFC.
“They weren’t tremendous completely satisfied about it, however as soon as the fights went by way of and the whole lot was nice, everyone was good,” Smith mentioned. “They know that I’m knowledgeable and issues occur. I supplied no excuses, and that’s on me.”
So far as the why behind the miss, Smith indicated he was heading in the right direction to make weight earlier than issues went off observe.
“I can’t even inform you what occurred, as a result of it doesn’t matter what I say, there’s a purpose, there’s quite a lot of s*** that goes on behind the scenes that no person sees,” he mentioned. “I used to be in form, I used to be actually low a pair weeks in the past, and s*** occurs, and I’ve no excuses.”
Smith mentioned he was nonetheless able to battle this previous Saturday night time, simply not as a title challenger as a result of he didn’t make championship weight.
Smith’s part-time job as a UFC analyst typically places him on the entrance strains of controversy over weight-cutting, and he’s not held his tongue about different fighters’ struggles on the dimensions. He’s beforehand detailed his own issues with weight whereas competing within the middleweight class, although he by no means got here in heavy at 185 kilos. He mentioned his expertise gained’t cease him from holding others accountable.
“I’ve been an absolute a***** about individuals lacking weight,” Smith mentioned. “You’ve acquired one job: You’ve acquired to point out up on weight. That’s the best a part of the job, proper? So I stand by the whole lot I’ve ever mentioned about everybody else, that it’s important to make weight, that it’s not an choice, and I’ll settle for no matter sh*t’s coming my approach. It doesn’t change my perspective on something.
“I’m nonetheless going to do it. The following individual that misses weight, I’m going to say one thing about it. As a result of everybody else is coming at me, they’re within the feedback, they’re on Twitter, they’re speaking s***. You realize what? I’ll eat it. Some s*** occurred, I f***** up, I missed weight, I’ll eat that s***. I’ll take that L. It’s what it’s.”
