Anthony Smith reacts to rival Luke Rockhold’s KO loss

Ahead of his light heavyweight debut opposite Jan Blachowicz, former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold had a lot to say about a handful of the division’s top stars — namely the champion Jon Jones and top-ranked contender Anthony Smith.

In the end, of course, Rockhold’s debut in the division did not go the way he envisioned, as he was knocked out by Blachowicz in the second round.

Speaking on MMA on Sirius XM, Anthony Smith, who is also a former middleweight, shared his thoughts on Rockhold’s failed light heavyweight debut. He did not hold back.

"I think that all the embarrassment, the finger-pointing and laughing that's happening to him right now, I think he absolutely deserves it." — @lionheartasmith wishes he could have been the one to beat Luke Rockhold at 205 pounds.@RJcliffordMMA @danhardymma pic.twitter.com/HQ67qQBNQR

— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) July 10, 2019

“I would have loved to have been the guy to put Rockhold out like that,” Smith said. “But I think it serves him right. All of the trash talk, all of the ‘Anthony Smith is a bum, Gustafsson’s going to roll over him, and I’m going to starch Jon,’ just the disrespect and looking right over Jan. I’ve been telling everybody that asks, Jan Blachowicz is the dark horse in the division. He’s one of the most dangerous dudes, and part of [the reason people don’t know] is because he’s so quiet and he keeps his mouth shut and he does his thing and he keeps walking through people.

Anthony Smith continued, explaining that while he wouldn’t wish injury on anyone, he feels Luke Rockhold deserves any embarrassment he’s feeling after his lopsided loss to Blachowicz.

“It’s unfortunate that [Rockhold’s] jaw is broken, I don’t want anybody to get hurt, but it is nice, again, to see Rockhold get it shoved right in his face,” Smith said. “Every single time he’s trash talked somebody and has been too cocky and thought he was too good for everybody, and [acts like] his s**t doesn’t stink, he ends up being the one who looks stupid. So I’m glad that the MMA Gods made sure that kept happening. And again, it’s unfortunate, I don’t want anyone to get hurt, but all the embarrassment, and the finger-pointing and the laughing that’s happening to him right now, I think he absolutely deserves it.”

What do you think of these comments from Anthony Smith?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 7/10/2019.