Marc Montoya opens up on criticism following Anthony Smith fight

After receiving plenty of criticism from the decisions made in the corner in Anthony Smith’s last fight, Factory X head coach Marc Montoya has finally responded.

In his last fight against Glover Teixeira back in May, Smith took a lot of damage to the extent that many had called for his corner to stop the fight, which they did not do but the referee ultimately ended it in the fifth-round.

Following the loss to Teixeira, Smith took it upon himself to stand up for his team and accept the criticism, saying that he’s told his coaches in the past that they would be fired if they threw in towel during any fight of his.

On Monday, Montoya was a guest on The Luke Thomas Show on Sirius XM’s Fight Nation and opened up on the criticism that he and his team received for their decision to not throw in the towel. Montoya says whether the criticism is fair or not, there are lessons learned in each fight.

https://twitter.com/MMAonSiriusXM/status/1267587190709723136

“The thing is I made a decision and that’s what happened,” Montoya said. “The bottom line is if you’re going to continue what I call dare greatly, sometimes you’re going to win and sometimes you’re going to lose. Sometimes when you dare greatly you’re going to get your ass kicked. You can’t have courage without vulnerability right? The bottom line is, people have opinions and that’s fair. I know behind the scenes what’s going on, I know my athlete. Whether the criticism is fair or not, at the end of the day all we can do from a situation on a win or a loss is get better. The path I’ve taken is we have to continue to grow and get better.”

Montoya added his time with Anthony Smith has not seen many losses and the relationship they share is a strong one.

“I started training Anthony in 2017 and Anthony Smith and I have lost a couple fights together, that’s it. He’s got a 94% finishing rate, he’s fought for a world title against the best mixed martial artist in my opinion…I think the body of work that is going in on both ends, that body of work since 2019 speaks volumes of what we have been able to accomplish and what we’ve learned and how we’re going to grow.”

Despite the criticism Marc Montoya and his team have received for decision made in Anthony Smith’s fight, the Factory X coach seems intent to stay focused on learning and growing with all of his fighters.