Anthony Smith: Top of the UFC Light Heavyweight Division ‘Is a Disaster Right Now’

Anthony Smith calls it like he sees it.

After a resounding first-round stoppage of Mauricio Rua in the UFC Fight Night 134 headliner in Hamburg, Germany, Smith volunteered to step in and replace the injured Volkan Oezdemir against Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 227 on Aug. 4. Shortly thereafter, it became official that Gustafsson was also out of UFC 227 due to a “minor injury” of his own.

“That’s ironic, isn’t it?” Smith quipped at the UFC Hamburg post-fight press conference. “It’s kinda weird how that works out. He needed an opponent yesterday. What happened between then and now? I don’t know [if he pulled out because of my callout], but that’s mighty ironic.

“I think that I’m a hard guy to train for, I honestly do. I show up a different product every time I fight.”

After a loss to Thiago Santos in February, the 6-foot-4 Smith elected to move up to 205 pounds, where he has since scored back-to-back first-round stoppages of Rua and Rashad Evans – a pair of former champions. If Gustafsson isn’t an option, Smith doesn’t necessarily have an opponent in mind, but he would like a chance to compete at the promotion’s scheduled event in Denver on Nov. 10.

“I called my shot after the Rashad fight, that I wanted to fight at UFC Lincoln, and that didn’t work out, so I don’t want to put my name on anything yet, but I think there’s that Denver card that would be pretty cool,” Smith said. “I train in Denver, that’s where my team is, I spend a lot of time there so I think Denver would be cool. We’re just gonna enjoy this one for now, and it sounds like the Gus thing is off the table, so we’ll just go from there.”

At the moment, the light heavyweight division is in a state of flux until reigning champ Daniel Cormier decides his next move. “DC” became a two-division titlist after dispatching Stipe Miocic at UFC 226, and he has been adamant about retiring from MMA by March 2019. Before then, he has considered taking two more fights: one against Brock Lesnar and another at 205 pounds. Cormier recently mentioned Rua as a desirable foe for his final light heavyweight title defense but Smith ruined those plans with his victory on Sunday.

“I know that DC wanted to fight ‘Shogun’ for whatever reason and completely looked past me,” Smith said. “I said this last week, let them keep talking about each other, but the whole topic of the conversation is gonna change after this fight and I think that’s where we’re at right now. I don’t know what DC’s got planned right now. We’ll see what other tricks he’s got up his sleeve.”

With Cormier waiting on a showdown with Lesnar, Jon Jones still awaiting USADA sanctions and Gustafsson currently injured, there is plenty of uncertainty at light heavyweight at the moment. And that doesn’t mention Sunday’s losses by divisional stalwarts Rua and Glover Teixeira, who fell to Corey Anderson in the co-main event. At the very least, Smith would like to see Cormier give some kind of indication regarding his next move.

“The top of the division is a disaster right now. ‘Shogun’ was supposed to be next and now he’s not. No one knows what’s going on with Cormier. I think that that’s the first step, we need to figure out if Cormier’s staying or going,” Smith said. “I’ve said this before, I think that Daniel is an honorable man and it wouldn’t be a very honorable thing to do to hold up the division. He knows right now. You guys could ask him 100 times and he won’t tell you, but he knows if he’s coming back down or not, and I think that he needs to make that public so we can figure out what we’re all doing.”