Anthony Smith Reveals Why He Doesn’t Like Luke Rockhold

There is legitimate heat between Anthony Smith and Luke Rockhold. While the two stars aren’t fighting inside the cage, or at least aren’t expected to fight anytime soon, Smith and Rockhold dislike each other. Smith, who last challenged for the light heavyweight title, believes that Rockhold is trying to create rivalries that aren’t there, for when he makes the jump to light heavyweight.

Previously, Rockhold called Anthony Smith a “bum”, leading to Smith calling out Rockhold. As “Lionheart” puts it, they won’t be friends anytime soon.

“The Conor (McGregor) thing, there’s either real beef, or he’s funny about it”, Smith told MMA Junkie. “It’s very clear that what Conor is doing is promotion. There’s no secret there. But Luke’s isn’t like that. He’s genuinely attacking me. There’s no promotion here. He’s just being an (expletive). Which is fine, but you’ve got to answer for that.

“Don’t act like we’re going to be in public places and we’re going to get along”, Smith said. “That’s not going to happen. I wasn’t raised like that. You talk like that in Nebraska, you’re going to get dragged out by your ears and get the (expletive) beat out of you.”

“If you want to talk your way into a fight, that’s fine”, he said. “There’s ways of going about it. You don’t have to convince me. I’m not the guy that you’ve got to goad into a fight. All you’ve got to do is ask. Want to fight? Sure. Yeah. Let’s do it. That’s as far as you’ve got to go.

“And if you want to build a fight, you’re not the (expletive) champion. So what are you building it for? You don’t get pay-per-view points. I don’t get PPV points. You’re not making any more money by being an (expletive). So what are we doing here? It’s a waste of time.”

With Smith set to fight Alexander Gustafsson at UFC on ESPN+ 11, Smith brought up how Rockhold recently said Gus would beat him.

“I just don’t get what his beef is, and now, he just keeps going with it. ‘Oh, Alexander Gustafsson’s going to beat his a**.’ But maybe not, (expletive). You ever consider that? Maybe you should focus on your fight and worry about that, because you’re going to look real stupid if I beat Alex and you lose. Real stupid. Historically, his (expletive) talking hasn’t worked out well for him.”

“I’m not a pretty boy like him. Nobody wants to take pictures with me in the club. I’ve got to work for a living, and that’s what I’m doing. I’m working. I’m not out here trash talking people for no reason.

“That’s why nobody likes him. Nobody in the UFC likes him. None of the staff likes him. None of the executives like him. None of the fighters like him. So he can sit pretty and eat his meals on TMZ and talk all the (expletive) all he wants. But at the end of the day, no one likes you, and sometimes that’s what matters most. It’s about how you treat people and if people respect you.”

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