Anthony Smith Labels Trying To Replicate Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone's MO As His 'Biggest Mistake'

Originally posted on MMA News | Last updated 8/22/23

Anthony Smith prides himself on being willing to take on any challenge the same way Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone did during his UFC career, but the light heavyweight contender does admit that mentality hasn’t always worked out in his favor.

“Lionheart” will be in action this weekend when the UFC returns to Singapore and he takes on Ryan Spann in the card’s co-main event. The fight will be a rematch of their 2021 meeting that Smith won via first-round submission, however the 35-year-old has dropped back-to-back fights since then.

The former light heavyweight title challenger spoke to ESPN MMA’s Jimmy Smith ahead of the event in Singapore, and when asked about his willingness to take on challenging fights Smith cited a UFC Hall of Famer as his inspiration.

“I’ve just always had the mindset that if you wanna be the champion you’ve gotta be able to beat everybody,” Smith explained. “And I haven’t done that up to this point, I’ve had some hiccups. Listen man, here’s my biggest mistake. I’ve always said that I wanted to be like the bigger version of Donald Cerrone. Like I’ll fight anybody, anytime, anyplace.”

Anthony Smith Admits That He's Struggled To Remain Consistant

Cerrone’s incredible rate of activity during the prime of his career is one of the many things that helped make him a fan favorite, but Smith acknowledges that adopting that mentality may not be the easiest way to become UFC champion.

“I’ve lived up to that. I’ll take all comers, I’ll fight lower-ranked guys, I’ll fight higher-ranked guys, I’ll fight on short notice. I’ll fight across the world, it doesn’t matter. What I didn’t take into account is maybe I’ve absorbed some of the inconsistences that Donald Cerrone’s seen at times, where I think sometimes I show up and I can beat anybody in the world and sometimes I’m not as consistent. That’s really my issue man. I don’t really care who the opponent is, I’m just worried about trying to be as consistent as possible.”

“Cowboy” did put together an incredible eight-fight win streak that saw him challenge Rafael dos Anjos for the lightweight title in 2015. After being knocked out in the first round of that fight Cerrone jumped between lightweight and welterweight, and he finally decided to walk away from the sport after losing to Jim Miller at UFC 276.

Smith also challenged Jon Jones for the light heavyweight title at UFC 235 and lost a unanimous decision, but if the 35-year-old wants to return to title contention he’ll first need to get back into the win column when he takes on Spann this weekend.

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