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Anthony Smith earned a title shot for the first time in his career and faced Jon Jones at UFC 235. Given his "journeyman" tag, nobody considered him to be a serious threat or contender to Jones, and in the fight, the critics were unfortunately proved right.
Smith was defeated in a lopsided unanimous decision and appeared to pose no threat to Jones, not taking many risks nor having a sound gameplan to defeat the dominant champion. He did, however, show a lot of toughness and refused to take a disqualification victory when hit with a knee to the head.
He's since had a strong comeback and finished one of Jones' toughest opponents to date - Alexander Gustafsson. He's not in the mix for a title shot right now, but Corey Anderson is a man who is.
Anderson, however, will be passed over and Jones has chosen Dominick Reyes as his next opponent instead. Anderson hasn't been happy about it and even Dana White criticized him for acting like a "cry baby". Anthony Smith called out Anderson after UFC 244 (who subsequently rejected his offer), but reiterated on Sirius XM as to why he needs to fight him (H/T Credit MMA News):
“Just put your head down, and beat the next guy, and don’t complain about it. And then, every once in a while, try to be a little bit exciting and stop talking shit about the guys that are doing it right."
“You want to talk s**t about me? I got a title shot. So instead of talking shit, maybe emulate what we do a little bit, try to get a goddamn finish, stop talking shit about the UFC, and just beat the next guy. It’s that simple."
He said that Anderson needs to beat him first to get the shot against Jones:
“I don’t understand this formula in his head, it’s like he’s doing brain surgery. It’s not that hard. I’m the next guy that you have to beat. It’s that simple.”
Has Corey Anderson earned a title shot or is he complaining too much as Smith said?
