Anthony Smith eyes future fight with Alex Pereira: “I would step in the fire with him”

Anthony Smith is hopeful to secure a future fight with Alex Pereira.

Smith and Pereira have taken shots at each other in the past, and now that the Brazilian is the light heavyweight champion, ‘Lionheart’ is hopeful he can face him down the line. Smith believes it would be a fan-friendly fight as he says he would step in the fire with the Brazilian.

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“He’s fun. Him and I have had our words back and forth, I don’t think that there’s any like real beef there but there’s definitely something there with him and I where given the opportunity, we both would jump on it,” Smith said to Submission Radio. “If I can put myself into a position where it’s ‘Oh, holy shit, here we are on a bit of a streak and things are going well’, the timing works out, I think both of us would jump on that opportunity. And I don’t know why that is, I don’t if it’s, I don’t know, real recognizes real a little bit. I’m one of the few guys probably that would really step in the fire with him and he knows that. Is Ankalaev going to stand in the pocket and trade with Alex Pereira and really play that game? Probably not, you know that I mean?”

If Anthony Smith can get a fight with Alex Pereira he expects it to be fun as ‘Lionheart’ says he would stand and trade with him. But, Smith will need to string together multiple wins in a row to get a crack at the Brazilian, but he believes their beef and his style could fast-track him to the belt.

Smith is set to return to the Octagon at UFC 301 next weekend in Brazil when he faces Vitor Petrino. ‘Lionheart’ is coming off a knockout loss to Khalil Rountree back in December. Before that, he beat Ryan Spann by split decision after back-to-back losses to Johnny Walker and Magomed Ankalaev.