UFC light heavyweight Anthony Smith has reacted to the decisions made by the referee and his corner during his loss to Glover Teixeira last night.

Smith, who challenged Jon Jones for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship last year, was enjoying some success in the early stages of the main event fight – but the veteran Teixeira was able to take over and issue a severe beating on “Lionheart”.

Many fans and pundits feel as if the fight last night actually could’ve been stopped a whole lot earlier than it actually was. In a brief statement to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, Smith didn’t seem too concerned with the outcome.

I asked Anthony Smith how he felt about the fight going long. Here’s what he said: pic.twitter.com/vv7CYaSELh

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) May 14, 2020

“I’m good with the decisions the referee and my corner made. When the ref made it clear he needed to see something or he was gonna stop it, I did what I had to do to stay in the fight. I come out of battle with my shield or I come out on it. That’s my rule. Period.”

Sometimes high-level fighters need to be saved from themselves, especially when we’re talking about someone as tough as Anthony Smith. The injuries he suffered during the fight have been well documented already, with many fearing that this could have a lasting impact on his career in mixed martial arts. At one point, he even told his corner that he believed his teeth were falling out.

With this outcome, Smith returns to the loss column after a big win over Alexander Gustafsson in his next most recent outing. Teixeira, on the other hand, is now on a four-fight win-streak at 40 years old. 

Do you think Smith’s fight with Teixeira should have been stopped sooner?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 5/14/2020.