Anthony Smith Still Hates Luke Rockhold, ‘Would Love To Beat That Guy Up’
There is still no love lost between Anthony Smith and Luke Rockhold.
Smith snapped a two-fight losing skid after enjoying a first-round submission victory over Devin Clark at UFC Vegas 15 this past weekend.
“Lionheart” has since claimed he would be okay with fighting lower-ranked opponents if that’s what it would take to get him back into title contention. However, there is one opponent not in the rankings that also makes sense and that’s Rockhold.
The former middleweight champion hasn’t competed since a failed light heavyweight debut against Jan Blachowicz last year that saw him suffer a brutal second-round knockout defeat. He has since hinted at a potential return and Smith is more than happy to face him now that it makes sense.
“I hate Luke Rockhold. I would love to beat that guy up,” Smith said on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show (via Middle Easy). “I just think that at the beginning of the Luke Rockhold and I beef, it didn’t make any sense at all because he wasn’t even in the division. Then he looked awful in the Jan (Blachowicz) fight, which in hindsight I guess doesn’t look bad anymore, but it just didn’t make any sense at the time.
“I think had this fight with Devin (Clark) had been with Luke, it would have made sense. But Luke still hasn’t shown his ability to stay conscious long enough to have a real fight.”
The beef between Rockhold and Smith stemmed from when the former mocked the latter for getting a title shot against Jon Jones last year. Smith has wanted to beat up Rockhold ever since as it doesn’t look like their beef is ending anytime soon.
That said, Smith is open to burying the hatchet. The only question is if Rockhold is capable of doing the same.
“There’s not too many people that get under my skin like that and Luke absolutely did,” Smith said. “At the end of the day, if we’re in different weight classes I can probably let it go. I’ve actually had other issues that weren’t as public, with other guys that are still in the UFC. Like me and Uriah Hall, we couldn’t even be in the same room at the same time. Me and Derek Brunson had some back and forth a little bit some years ago, when Strikeforce came over to the UFC.
“It’s kind of cool now, I see Uriah out and we’re all chummy and buddies and stuff, and me and Derek are on cordial terms. So I’m not against burying the hatchet and moving on and being an adult. I just don’t feel like Luke’s one of those guys you can do that with. I think his ego’s too big to do something like that.”
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