Anthony Smith could be facing Jan Blachowicz next time out.
Smith revealed on Monday on The MMA Hour that he did agree to face Aleksandar Rakic on December 18. The fight was agreed to but Smith says he has a small injury that forced him out of the fight, but now he said just hours after Blachowicz lost his title to Glover Teixeira at UFC 267, the promotion offered him a fight against the Pole.
“Sounds like we got someone else. I’m kind of liking this Jan Blachowicz fight. They brought it to me that night. He wants to fight again, he wants to fight soon,” Smith said. “I’m not crazy injured, I’m just dealing with little stuff and an infection. As long as we can get the infection cleared, I don’t think February is out of the question.”
According to Smith, his preference is to get the rematch with Rakic, yet he doesn’t think the Austrian wants to wait past December. With that, a scrap against Blachowicz does make some sense.
“Yeah, for sure, I love that fight, and I like that guy. I want the Rakic fight, I want that back but I don’t think he wants to wait so if he wants to go in and fight someone else that is fine. I like the Jan Blachowicz fight,” Smith said.
Anthony Smith is coming off a first-round submission over Ryan Spann which was his third win in a row. Prior to that, he beat Jimmy Crute by TKO due to a leg injury and submitted Devin Clark. The winning streak snapped his two-fight skid where he lost to Glover Teixeira and Rakic.
Blachowicz, meanwhile, lost his UFC light heavyweight title on Saturday as he lost by second-round submission to Teixeira. He mentioned he wanted to make a quick turnaround and it appears that will be against Smith.
Who do you think will win if they end up fighting, Anthony Smith or Jan Blachowicz?