{"id":297479,"date":"2019-01-08T06:05:11","date_gmt":"2019-01-08T14:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=297479"},"modified":"2019-01-08T06:05:11","modified_gmt":"2019-01-08T14:05:11","slug":"anthony-smith-addresses-fans-who-think-delusional-jon-jones-will-beat-him-in-early","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/anthony-smith-addresses-fans-who-think-delusional-jon-jones-will-beat-him-in-early\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Smith addresses fans who think ‘delusional’ Jon Jones will beat him in early"},"content":{"rendered":"

At UFC 235 on March 2, streaking light heavyweight contender Anthony Smith will get his shot at the UFC light heavyweight title, which is once again owned by the seemingly unstoppable Jon Jones.<\/p>\n

Heading into this fight, fans are not giving Anthony Smith much of a chance. For all his talent and ferocity, Jones has proven himself to be on another level entirely from most of his opposition.<\/p>\n

The early odds for the fight<\/a> reflect this widespread perception. Jones has opened as a huge -500 favorite, while Smith has been pegged as a +350 underdog.<\/p>\n

Despite these perceptions, Anthony Smith assures he is far from cake walk for Jones. Speaking to MMAjunkie<\/a> this week, the top light heavyweight contender addressed the members of the MMA community who expect Jones to put him away early.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s goddamn amazing that all these people are assuming that if me and Jon Jones fight, he\u2019s going to get me out of there in one round,\u201d said Smith.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t hit any harder than (Volkan) Oezdemir and Hector Lombard,\u201d he continued. \u201cHe\u2019s not any better of a wrestler, for the most part, of guys that I\u2019ve fought. And he\u2019s not any better a jiu-jitsu guy that all the guys I\u2019ve fought. He puts it together better than anyone that\u2019s in the game right now. But he doesn\u2019t wow me anywhere, especially the fight that he just had [against Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 232].\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t impressed,\u201d he continued. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t mean it wasn\u2019t a fantastic performance, because it was. But I didn\u2019t watch the fight and think, I couldn\u2019t handle that. I saw a guy that has holes that can be exploited as long as you attack it in the right way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also saw a guy that wasn\u2019t nearly as arrogant. Jon\u2019s biggest attribute is his genuine delusion. Jon is genuinely so delusional and so arrogant that he is unbeatable that it works in his favor, and he almost creates the illusion that is. He fights with this complete arrogance and disregard for his opponents. And if he loses that, he loses a lot of his ability.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jon
Image: UFC on Instagram<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All this to say, Anthony Smith is confident he can be the man to end the seemingly unshakable reign of Jon Jones.<\/p>\n

\u201cJon is one of those guys that thrives in danger, and I think that\u2019s going to work against him at some point in time,\u201d he said. \u201cEventually, someone\u2019s going to catch up to Jon. His game is too crazy. You can\u2019t be reckless forever, and I think I\u2019m the guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t really give a (expletive) that people remember that Anthony Smith is the first guy to beat Jon Jones. I just want to leave there with the title.\u201d<\/p>\n

How do you think Anthony Smith will perform against Jon Jones at UFC 235?<\/p>\n

This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i>BJPENN.COM<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u00a0on 1\/7\/2019.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At UFC 235 on March 2, streaking light heavyweight contender Anthony Smith will get his shot at the UFC light heavyweight title, which is once again owned by the seemingly unstoppable Jon Jones. Heading into this fight, fans are not giving Anthony Smith much of a chance. For all his talent and ferocity, Jones has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":280979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[39522,10091,39610],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nAnthony Smith addresses fans who think 'delusional' Jon Jones will beat him in early | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Anthony Smith addresses the doubters who think Jon Jones will finish him early in their anticipated UFC 235 light heavyweight title fight.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/anthony-smith-addresses-fans-who-think-delusional-jon-jones-will-beat-him-in-early\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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