The prolific finisher Anthony Smith is the UFC Light Heavyweight fighter who is set to fight Vitor Petrino in UFC 301. His transition from Middleweight veteran to the light heavyweight category was not expected in the industry, but the ‘Lionheart’ proved everyone wrong and only lost one fight. The 37-19-0 fighter claims to have learned more cognitive prioritization tricks ahead of his next fight and gained more insight after 16 years in the industry.

Let’s see what kind of fighter ‘Lionheart’ is and how he defeats his opponents.

What type of fighter is Anthony Smith?

‘Lionheart’ started fighting his journey in martial arts at the age of 8 with karate. He then transitioned to Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu. Initially, the fighter did his training under Mick Doyle’s Kickboxing Academy and is a starfighter from that academy. After losing to Jones, he had a reality check and decided to split four fights in an even manner. Along with that, he has his fighting style backing him up, and it’s not just one type of skill, it’s pretty versatile!

The first technique is related to striking, where his kickboxing is based largely on Muay Thai. This style emphasizes short and swift combinations of punches along with kicks and knees. The fighter has incorporated more jabs via his hand and that too from a distance while fighting in the offensive stance. His main goal is to do the most amount of damage. Smith is always searching to strike with his hand depending on the distance. For example, against ‘Shogun’ Rua, he stabbed his opponent with left hooks and sharp jabs.

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Smith had the upper hand with Rua but not with Volkan Oezdemir. He tried to use the check hook but he got kicked by his opponent while maneuvering. However, ‘Lionheart’ managed to land strong stabs with his check hook. Apart from striking he uses wrestling and that is also in the offensive style. However, his flat-footed stance and negligible distractions resulted in his takedowns in a lot of matches.

He is a good utiliser of the over hook and as soon as his opponent moves forward to the gap, he uses his knee to hit the opponent’s midsection. From the journey of the over hook to the clinch, Smith is skilled at moving to a position called ‘A-Frame’. The 35-year-old generally fights in the offensive no matter what style he is using, and apart from that he is adept at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu which he uses to his advantage.

Anthony Smith in BJJ

Anthony Smith is a black belt in BJJ and his main strength is the triangle choke. Since he is tall and has long legs, he needs a small time frame to pass one arm through his legs and trap his opponent like a fly. After he catches his opponent, Smith can put heavy leverage into the submission.

Devin Clark was the opponent who had to face the serious bottom game from Smith. During the fight with Oezdemir, both fighters managed to secure the back mount, but the style of fighting was distinct. Smith controlled the two-on-one grip so that his opponent could not use an offensive style. Oezdemir, on the other hand, tried to stand on his feet instantly and this allowed ‘Lionheart’ to get on his back and lock Oezdemir’s body. 

Smith had also trained with Nicky Rod for one of his training camps and said, “ It was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever been through. I almost wanted to leave my black belt there. I felt like I didn’t deserve this. Like I’m a good BJJ black belt. I’ve competed at black belt and he f#cking startched me. If we had rolled for 90 minutes nonstop, there wouldn’t be 35 seconds where I was in a neutral position. He barbecued me.”

So clearly he learned from the best and the UFC 301 fight will be significant for the fighter. After losing four of his last 8 fights, he needs to make his stance strong again.