After thoroughly dominating Ryan Spann on his thanks to a first-round submission victory within the main event of UFC Fight Night, Anthony Smith had many fights left in him. A fired-up Smith threw a touch extra trash talk in after securing the faucet and security had to flood the Octagon inside the Apex facility in Las Vegas to separate the fighters.
Smith dominated the action from the jump, hurting Spann repeatedly on the feet with clean left hooks and overhand rights. Spann managed to survive the primary barrage from Smith but never regained his bearings and continued to be bounced around the cage by the heavy fire. Despite Spann’s best efforts to recover, he was dropped again by Smith, but Smith didn’t allow Spann to return to his feet at this point. The veteran instead locked during a rear-naked choke to force the submission at the 3:47 mark of Round 1.
Smith immediately need to his feet and stood over Spann, taunting reciprocally for what he seemed to be disrespectful talk before the fight. As Spann walked toward Smith and therefore the two continued to exchange words, security rushed the Octagon and kept the fighters separated until cooler heads prevailed and therefore the two shared several handshakes and hugs. Smith is now riding a three-fight streak, rebounding from a two-fight skid that included losses to Glover Teixeira and Alexander Rakic. it had been Rakic that Smith had at top of mind during the post-fight interview.
“I want Alexander Rakic,” Smith said. “He’s just sitting around, he is not next for the title. Either i buy that fight or I skip him. that is what I would like. I would like someone before me and that i earned that.” Before the interview was even complete, Rakic had accepted the offer for a rematch, tweeting at UFC matchmaker Mick Maynard, “I’m free in December.” To that, Smith had an easy response, “Merry Christmas to me.”
