After back-to-back lopsided losses to Glover
Teixeira and Aleksandar
Rakic to begin his 2020 campaign, Anthony
Smith had lost much of the luster that surrounded the beginning
of what has largely been a successful run at light heavyweight.
At
UFC on ESPN 18, Smith secured a much-needed victory, as he
submitted Devin Clark
with a triangle choke 2:34 into Round 1 of their headlining bout at
the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday night. A third straight loss
would have made Smith all but irrelevant in the UFC’s 205-pound
division. Instead, “Lionheart” sent a message to UFC brass — and
the right people were paying attention.
“He looked awesome,” UFC president Dana White said at Saturday’s
post-fight press conference. “[He] came in to make a statement and
message received.”
Smith and Clark were initially expected to square off in the
evening’s co-main event before a positive COVID-19 test for
Curtis
Blaydes nixed his headlining heavyweight bout against Derrick
Lewis one day prior to the card. Once that happened, both light
heavyweights agreed to a five-round contest instead of three once
their bout was elevated to the featured attraction.
As it turned out, Smith only needed one frame to dispatch Clark,
who entered the fight having won three of his last four Octagon
appearances. White praised Smith’s willingness to adapt and accept
what other established stars might have seen as a risky
opponent.
“These are the things you’ve got to do,” White said. “You’ll see in
this business a lot guys who try to hold their spots and not fight
anybody. That ain’t the way to do it.
“What he did tonight, that’s the way to do it. Are you still that
good? If you’re still that good, you should go out and do what you
did to tonight to a guy like Devin Clark
— a young, hungry stud who wants to work his way up and steal your
spot You’ve got to go out and make a statement. He did that. People
respect that. People love guys that want to fight.”