The Film Room: Anthony Smith
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Anthony Smith will step into the Octagon for the second time in 2019 when he tackles fellow former Ultimate Fighting Championship title challenger Alexander Gustafsson in the UFC Fight Night 153 main event on Saturday at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm. “Lionheart” finds himself on the rebound after his one-sided decision loss to Jon Jones in a failed bid to capture the light heavyweight crown in March.
Ahead of his high-stakes battle with Gustafsson, Smith supplies the
material for this edition of The Film Room.
Smith’s aggressive style allows him to fall into the clinch more often than others. In the clinch, Smith wields amazing elbows and routinely lands them over the top of opponents’ lead hand when they attempt a collar tie. He has multiple knockout wins from elbows in the clinch, and he will even occasionally lead with an elbow while blitzing forward. He could benefit from working the body more in the clinch to lower the opponent’s guard, take advantage of his length and open up things for elbows over the top. Gustafsson has some of the best defensive footwork in the UFC, so it will be a challenge for Smith to turn this into the up-close dog fight he needs to win. However, if he does find himself in the clinch, expect to see him throw strikes with impunity since those opportunities might be far and few between.
Smith will have brief moments of fighting on the outside, where he has proven to have decent countering skills. He had much more success with his counters at middleweight since he was almost always the bigger man; his skills have not translated well to 205 pounds with fighters who can match his length. Trying to outpoint Gustafsson at range seems like a bad game plan anyway, so it would be wiser for him run at the Swede for all five rounds. Most fans expected Smith to push the pace against Jones, but he shrunk under the spotlight, tried to beat the champion at his own game and completely abandoned what got him to the dance. Expect Smith to learn from that loss, realize he is not the technical point fighter he tried to be and embrace his wild, fun style.
Smith’s aggressive striking often overshadows his grappling game. Surprisingly, he has 11 submission victories in his career, although only one of them has come in the UFC. He has shown a nice counter takedown when opponents overextend their punches, and if he gets taken down, he has a slick triangle off of his back. However, his most recent fight against Jones showed that Smith can be dominated on the ground by good grapplers -- a route that perhaps offers the best chance to beat him while taking away his primary weapons. Smith figures to look for takedowns in this fight, but it would not be surprising to see Gustafsson take things to the ground with how bad “Lionheart” looked in his last outing.
Anthony Smith will step into the Octagon for the second time in 2019 when he tackles fellow former Ultimate Fighting Championship title challenger Alexander Gustafsson in the UFC Fight Night 153 main event on Saturday at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm. “Lionheart” finds himself on the rebound after his one-sided decision loss to Jon Jones in a failed bid to capture the light heavyweight crown in March.
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Smith has an incredible amount of experience for someone so young
and continues to improve with each fight. Smith is far from a
technical and precise striker, but he does not need to be. His
constant aggression, knockout power and ability to take a few
punches to give one of his own has worked wonderfully for him so
far. With a 31-14 record and 28 finishes, it is difficult to say he
is doing anything wrong. Smith usually fights orthodox and favors
his right hooks and rear leg kicks when fighting on the outside,
but most of his leading attacks are wild hooks he throws while
running at his opponent. Smith’s wild and aggressive style was
exposed by Jones but got him this far, and at this point in his
career, there is no sense in turning back.
Smith’s aggressive style allows him to fall into the clinch more often than others. In the clinch, Smith wields amazing elbows and routinely lands them over the top of opponents’ lead hand when they attempt a collar tie. He has multiple knockout wins from elbows in the clinch, and he will even occasionally lead with an elbow while blitzing forward. He could benefit from working the body more in the clinch to lower the opponent’s guard, take advantage of his length and open up things for elbows over the top. Gustafsson has some of the best defensive footwork in the UFC, so it will be a challenge for Smith to turn this into the up-close dog fight he needs to win. However, if he does find himself in the clinch, expect to see him throw strikes with impunity since those opportunities might be far and few between.
Smith will have brief moments of fighting on the outside, where he has proven to have decent countering skills. He had much more success with his counters at middleweight since he was almost always the bigger man; his skills have not translated well to 205 pounds with fighters who can match his length. Trying to outpoint Gustafsson at range seems like a bad game plan anyway, so it would be wiser for him run at the Swede for all five rounds. Most fans expected Smith to push the pace against Jones, but he shrunk under the spotlight, tried to beat the champion at his own game and completely abandoned what got him to the dance. Expect Smith to learn from that loss, realize he is not the technical point fighter he tried to be and embrace his wild, fun style.
Smith’s aggressive striking often overshadows his grappling game. Surprisingly, he has 11 submission victories in his career, although only one of them has come in the UFC. He has shown a nice counter takedown when opponents overextend their punches, and if he gets taken down, he has a slick triangle off of his back. However, his most recent fight against Jones showed that Smith can be dominated on the ground by good grapplers -- a route that perhaps offers the best chance to beat him while taking away his primary weapons. Smith figures to look for takedowns in this fight, but it would not be surprising to see Gustafsson take things to the ground with how bad “Lionheart” looked in his last outing.
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