Anthony Smith just sat down for an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour and eventually the conversation turned towards the possibility of a grappling match with fellow UFC light-heavyweight Alex Pereira. It might seem like an unusual topic at first, but Smith has actually competed in several grappling matches over the past few years. Most recently he came up against Glover Teixeira in the co-main event of UFC Fight Pass Invitational 4 and it’s not impossible to imagine him returning again. The more surprising part of the whole conversation is Pereira, who is known for his striking rather than his grappling even if he is a BJJ brown belt.
It all actually started on Twitter, when Alex Pereira decided to post an edited image that seemed to suggest that he should compete against Anthony Smith at a UFC Fight Pass Invitational event. Smith was immediately happy to accept the challenge of course and replied on his own official Twitter account to say so:
Send location. https://t.co/mAkYBtS6fw
— Anthony Smith (@lionheartasmith) August 31, 2023
To his credit, Smith didn’t hesitate when Helwani asked if he would take on Pereira in a grappling match:
“I mean, I would. But do you think he would? Not a chance, not a chance.”
He went to elaborate on why he thinks Pereira wouldn’t actually accept a grappling match:
“I think it’s just him taking jabs. You know how it is in this media world, it doesn’t have to be true; you just have to convince people that it’s true, or that you want it to be true.”
Although Anthony Smith doesn’t think the grappling match with Alex Pereira will come to fruition, he wanted to make it crystal clear that it won’t be because of him. He also had some recommendations for where Pereira should direct his call-outs in the future:
“I would grapple him in my front yard right now. It doesn’t matter. I would smoke him in a grappling match. But isn’t he supposed to – I don’t know why he’s not talking trash to Jiri (Prochazka). Like, that’s the guy. I understand trying to drum up some business and drum up some some intrigue into what you’re doing and things in the division, but like, someone needs to be in his ear saying, ‘If you’re going to be talking all this s***, you need to do it to the guy that you could be fighting for the title.’”
The full interview with Anthony Smith where he talks about the potential grappling match with Alex Pereira was uploaded to the official YouTube channel of MMA Fighting:
