Sweetheart Anthony Smith seems to be feeling a bit unappreciated as evidenced by his recent comments towards MMA fans and the sport in general.
“Lionheart” is a veteran of the sport and is known for his extreme toughness, versatility and fighting intelligence. Currently, at a 0-2 skid, this comes right after his impressive 3-0 streak against the likes of Devin Clarke, Jamie Croute and Ryan Spahn. Back-to-back losses at the hands of Magomed Ankalayev and Johnnie Walker certainly didn’t help his morale, and now, Smith has settled down with the community and said some very sad but very accurate things.
It puts into question where Smith is mentally. In his final fight against Walker at UFC on ABC 4, cameras caught Lionheart telling his opponent, “You’re attacking my family.” Which is a very strange thing to say and can be misunderstood in many different ways. Perhaps Smith was mentally creating a scenario where he was defending his family against an attacker, or perhaps he was referring to something said backstage, in the cage, or on social media. The correct answer, no one really knows.
It is worth saying that Anthony Smith an act In fact he must have protected his family from a home invasion years ago. The experience was undoubtedly very scary and could leave a UFC fighter with PTSD. Luckily, Lionheart was a trained martial artist, and the home invader was beaten to a bloody pulp and would probably think twice about invading homes again.
Anthony Smith talks about MMA fans and describes the hate he receives from them
appear on MMA Fighting’s, MMA watchSmith opened up about his relationship with fans and described how, in his opinion, support seemed to be at an all-time low.
Smith told Ariel Helwani (H/T BJPenn.com). Perhaps the wrong word is common. More, perhaps, recognizable? “
“I don’t know. I don’t even know how to say it,” Anthony Smith continued. “It’s just, every person outside of the whole circus show really makes it miserable to the people inside. I’m probably one of the few guys who will be honest about that. The fans used to be the thing that got you going. They will push you and support you. And once you get to a certain level, they hate you.”
“That sucks. It’s annoying because you get more as you get into the sport,” finished Anthony Smith. While the tone of this is deeply frustrating, it is undeniably true. MMA fans are known for being toxic and hateful at times, and there’s no doubt that Smith has received hate mail online and in real life many times.
While a lot of these so-called “fans” may want to hate him, we can only hope that one day Anthony Smith feels the love that the majority of society undoubtedly feels for him.
What do you think of Anthony Smith’s comments?