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Jan Blachowicz beat Aleksandar Rakic with a TKO in the third round of their bout after the Austrian suffered a knee injury. The Polish fighter was quick to announce he was next for the UFC light heavyweight belt but Anthony Smith had some reservations about it.
Anthony Smith is in the title hunt at light heavyweight himself and is never afraid to speak his mind. The UFC fighter had some words for Jan Blachowicz after he declared he deserved a title shot.
“If Rakic won that fight, I don’t really have much to say. It doesn’t leave me in a position to really politic my way into a title fight very well, even with a win over (Magomed) Ankalaev,” Smith told Michael Bisping (transcribed by MMA Junkie). “Because he has a straight-up win over me. I would have to sit back, shut up and wait my turn. But with Jan, his title fight (with Teixeira) wasn’t super competitive, he didn’t defend verse any light heavyweight. I’m not going to discredit the win over (Israel) Adesanya at all. It’s a fantastic win. But it’s over a middleweight. He didn’t defend it against any 205ers. And he got kind of smoked. Credit to him, big fan of the guy, but it wasn’t competitive in that fight at all.”
Anthony Smith has fought Aleksandar Rakic in the past and knows the man well. Still, he feels he'll have a better resume for a UFC title fight if he wins his next bout.
“I think that the winner of my fight with Ankalaev, I think has a better resume recently, moving into a title fight with the winner of Jiri and Glover,” Smith continued. “That’s my opinion. I’m obviously biased. I just felt like we were just getting written off a little bit like that fight’s not even happening. Like there’s no other option other than Jan Blachowicz. And that’s not the case. I think Ankalaev and I are going to have a lot to say about that.”
