Anthony Smith explains why he’s “offended’ by Vitor Petrino’s callout: “I refuse to be the new Neil Magny”
Anthony Smith explained why he was offended by being called out by his next opponent, Vitor Petrino.
At UFC 301, MMA veteran Anthony Smith will return to action. He’ll take on rising prospect Vitor Petrino as he attempts to make a return to the win column. That won’t, of course, be easy, especially given how impressive Petrino has looked in the UFC thus far.
Smith has always been the kind of fighter who speaks his mind. In a recent interview, he decided to explain why he wasn’t thrilled to be called out by Vitor.
https://twitter.com/MMAonSiriusXM/status/1768032614483415362
Smith’s Petrino view
“I’m offended,” Smith said on MMA on SiriusXM’s MMA Today. “Why didn’t he call out someone higher ranked? Why didn’t he call out (Aleksandar) Rakic? As far as timelines go, Rakic is going to be fighting soon. That would be a little closer to your timeline, in terms of two guys that are fighting around the same time. Why didn’t you call out Rakic or Volkan Oezdemir? Why didn’t you call out any of those guys? Because you think you can beat me. You’re not sure about the other ones and that pisses me off.
“I’m not done. I’m not the old wounded lion that’s just pacing around waiting to be killed by the younger ones. That’s not me. I refuse to be the new Neil Magny. That’s three guys in a month and a half that have fought, won, and called me out. All unranked, all young guys. We’re going to dead this right in its tracks. Call me a gatekeeper. Call me whatever the hell you want to call me, but here’s the fact: I’ve been fighting inside the top 10 for a very long time and have been fighting in the rankings in two different weight classes for a very long time.”
Quotes via MMA Junkie
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