Anthony Smith stole more than just the fight when he choked out Volkan Oezdemir in the third round in Moncton Saturday night. He also took home a Performance of the Night bonus and an extra $50,000.
Smith’s finish came after taking a beating in the early minutes of the fight that nearly saw Oezdemir secure a TKO finish of his own. Once Oezdemir wore out in the third round, Smith was able to methodically secure a rear naked choke and get the main event win.
Smith, who was exhausted himself, felt that a title shot could be in sight after winning three straight. He also knows that Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson have business to take care of before he can throw his name into the hat. Jones tweeted shortly after the fight that Smith’s performance was just “OK.”
It was OK https://t.co/lxGvqC5Pf0
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) October 28, 2018
“Jon Jones should worry about Alexander Gustafsson first,” Smith said at the post-fight press conference (via MMAJunkie). I think that performance was exactly one Jon Jones would hate to see. You’re not going to get me out of there with a little bit of flash and some hard punches. That ain’t going to happen. But if I was Jon Jones, I would probably be a little bit more worried about Alexander Gustafsson than Anthony Smith right now.”
Also earning a performance bonus was Don Madge who defeated Te Edwards with a devastating second-round head kick. Our own Cole Henry called Madge an “absolute savage” in his destruction of Edwards.
NEXT: WILL RONDA ROUSEY EVER FIGHT AGAIN? HOW IS SHE DOING AS A PRO-WRESTLER?
Finally, Fight of the Night honors went to Nasrat Haqparast and Thibault Gouti. Haqparast took a three round unanimous decision in a solid back and forth fight.
Create a mobile home screen button on your phone now for one-click access to MMATorch’s newly ramped up MMA coverage with the return of Mike Hiscoe, who is now managing editor of MMATorch.
ANDROID USERS (Chrome): Click on the three stacked dots in the upper right corner on your browser and choose”Add to Home Screen.” Name it “MMATorch” and now it will be available with one-click access on your home screen!
IPHONE USERS (Safari): Click on the box with an arrow pointing upward out of it and then scroll your choices horizontally and choose “Add To Home Screen.” Name it “MMATorch” and now it will be available with one-click access on your home screen!
Leave a Reply