Anthony Smith Wants to Battle the Old Rashad Evans, Not the ‘Mentally Broken One’

UFC 225 is now available on Amazon Prime.

On Saturday June 9, Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight Anthony Smith is slated to take on former light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans as part of the prelims at UFC 225 inside the United Center in Chicago.

The 29 year-old Smith was interviewed by Karyn Bryant on June 2 and talked about how he used to look up to “Suga” as a fighter, but believes the current version of Evans is a shadow of his former self.

“When Rashad was fighting Rampage, I remember thinking, ‘Someday, I want to be one of those guys. I want to be mentioned with those people.’” Smith began. “And Rashad’s fought Jon Jones, Forrest Griffin, Thiago Silva, I mean the list goes on. And then to see how everyone talks about him and just runs him into the ground…this isn’t the Suga that I know. He’s not even sticking up for himself. So now I find myself in interviews having to stick up for him. Like, why the fu*k am I doing that? Where’s the Rashad that got into epic trash-talking battles with Rampage? And where’s the Rashad that got in Jon Jones ’s sh*t and stuck up for himself?”

Smith claims that the comments made by Evans indicate a fighter who is mentally broken and is a distant memory of the fighter he knew growing up.

“Just some of the stuff that he said…like, ‘My bags are at the door,’ and, ‘I see the writing on the wall’…that’s not the way this was supposed to go in my head. If you told me five years ago that someday I’d be fighting Rashad, this isn’t the build-up that I expected it to be.

“I want the old Rashad. I don’t want the mentally broken one.”

While Evans has steered clear of the psychological game he used to engage in previous fights inside the Octagon, Smith is just hoping he comes up against a dangerous opponent who’s looking to finish him.

“I don’t want him to focus on not losing. I want him to try to take me out. That’s the fight I want. That’s the one I’ve been preparing for. And I just hope that that’s the one I get. I’m just disappointed. This isn’t the Rashad that I grew up watching.”

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