Anthony Smith: Jon Jones Did Not Feel Unbeatable

Despite losing to Jon Jones, Anthony Smith never felt he was unbeatable.

Daniel Cormier recently predicted that it would be a heavyweight who would eventually defeat Jones in the Octagon by knocking him out. In essence, “DC” feels that’s the only way to defeat Jones as he doesn’t see anybody being able to outpoint him over 25 minutes.

But Smith disagrees with that, not only having spent 25 minutes with Jones in their UFC 235 clash last year, but also believing Cormier was winning in his rematch with “Bones” until he was caught with a head kick:

“I think a heavyweight would have a much easier time,” Smith told SiriusXM Fight Nation (via The Body Lock). “I like Daniel, I’ve worked with Daniel — I disagree with Daniel. I hear him talk about Jon Jones like that all the time. I don’t see that. I didn’t feel like that when I was in there with Jon Jones. Obviously I had my own issues and I think later on, I’ll write a book and tell the entire story about that, but I don’t feel like that. I didn’t feel like I was in there with a dude who was unbeatable.

“And when I hear DC talk sometimes, I get the feeling as if he’s talking about someone who’s unbeatable. Especially a man who was winning the second fight and just got clipped and put down. I think all judges had DC up, he was winning every minute of every round up till the point that he got kicked. I always feel really uncomfortable when I hear DC talk like that. One, because I don’t see that when I’ve seen him fight [Jones] the second time. And I didn’t feel like that when I was in there with Jon Jones.”

“Lionheart” does agree that a heavyweight would have a better shot against Jones, however. He also feels he could have performed better if he was slightly bigger than he already is.

In the end, knockout power is a huge factor as Jones can be defeated by an inferior fighter according to Smith:

“Would some more size absolutely help? For sure,” Smith added. “If I was bigger, a couple inches taller and had a few more inches of reach on me, absolutely it’s easier to do.

“Also, if you’re a heavyweight and you’re a big power striker, maybe you can get away with putting Jon Jones out without having to be better than him for an entire fight. That’s how I look at it.”

What do you make of Smith’s comments?