After thoroughly dominating Ryan Spann on his way to a first-round submission victory in the main event of UFC Fight Night, Anthony Smith had plenty of fight left in him. A fired-up Smith threw a little extra trash talk in after securing the tap and security had to flood the Octagon inside the Apex facility in Las Vegas to separate the fighters.
Smith dominated the action from the jump, hurting Spann repeatedly on the feet with clean left hooks and overhand rights. Spann managed to survive the first barrage from Smith but never regained his bearings and continued to be bounced around the cage by the heavy fire.
Despite Spann’s best efforts to recover, he was dropped again by Smith, but Smith didn’t allow Spann to return to his feet this time. The veteran instead locked in a rear-naked choke to force the submission at the 3:47 mark of Round 1.
Smith immediately got to his feet and stood over Spann, taunting in return for what he perceived to be disrespectful talk ahead of the fight. As Spann walked toward Smith and the two continued to exchange words, security rushed the Octagon and kept the fighters separated until cooler heads prevailed and the two shared several handshakes and hugs.
Smith is now riding a three-fight winning streak, rebounding from a two-fight skid that included losses to Glover Teixeira and Alexander Rakic. It was Rakic that Smith had at top of mind during the post-fight interview.
“I want Alexander Rakic,” Smith said. “He’s just sitting around, he’s not next for the title. Either I get that fight or I skip him. That’s what I want. I want someone ahead of me and I earned that.”
Before the interview was even complete, Rakic had accepted the offer for a rematch, tweeting at UFC matchmaker Mick Maynard, “I’m free in December.”
To that, Smith had a simple response, “Merry Christmas to me.”
