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Anthony Smith Says His Corner’s Advice Led Him to UFC on FOX 24 Win

April 16, 2017 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas
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Anthony Smith spoke following his win over Andrew Sanchez in the preliminary card of UFC on FOX 24. Some highlights are below:

On the fight not going in his favor points-wise: “I knew that I needed a finish. My coaches don’t – no one lies to me. They told me going into the third I was down two, and I needed a finish.”

On Sanchez’s performance in the first two rounds: “He kept throwing that overhand right and kept hitting me with it. The reason he kept hitting me with it is because an overhand right and a takedown look the same at the beginning of it. So I would be expecting the takedown, and he was throwing the punch.”

On getting advice from his corner for round three: “They said, ‘Throw up the right head kick and see what happens.’ It worked out perfectly.”

On getting the win: “The feeling when that was over was one of the best feelings I’ve ever had in my life. You tell yourself all the time, ‘You know, no matter what happens in the fight, I’ll get through it.’ But you don’t always know that for sure. A lot of guys say that, but I proved a lot to myself. I’ve never been so happy to see someone unconscious in my whole life. Like, ‘Thank God this guy is out.’”

On his mental toughness: “I am unshakeable. You’re never going to (expletive) shake me. You’re never going to break me. I’m never going to quit. That whole fight was a culmination of that – just visibly proving that you’re never going to break me. I’m never going to quit. I earned my nickname a long time ago, and it was performances like this that did it. It’s not the prettiest. It’s definitely not going to scare anybody in the division, but Andrew Sanchez has been talking about trying to get a top-10 dude. I just put him away. In this sport, (expletive) doesn’t always go your way. Sometimes, you just go in there and you have an off night. I think I had a little bit of an off night tonight, a little bit of a slow start. But I just can feel it my heart. I know I’m going to be a world champion someday. No one’s going to tell me any different.”