Anthony Smith warns Jamahal Hill about the dangers of fighting Glover Teixeira
Anthony Smith has offered up some advice to Jamahal Hill ahead of the latter's upcoming fight against Glover Teixeira. Smith clashed with Teixeira in a grueling five-round bout at a UFC Fight Night event in May 2020. After being outworked early on, the Brazilian MMA stalwart rallied to stop an exhausted Smith via fifth-round TKO.
In an edition of Michael Bisping's Believe You Me podcast, the MMA legend and UFC light heavyweight Anthony Smith hosted Jamahal Hill and spoke to him regarding multiple topics. 'Lionheart' recalled calling up Hill after the Teixeira-Hill matchup was announced to give him a few words of advice.
What a mad main event we had last night at #UFCJax 😳
Anthony Smith and Glover Teixeira fighting in a phone booth for five rounds!
UFC is back with a bang 👊 https://t.co/cgYSNBhbxv
Anthony Smith revealed that he cautioned Jamahal Hill against underestimating Glover Teixeira based on his past fights. They seemingly concurred that Teixeira would surely show up as an improved version of himself compared to his previous fight, which was a fifth-round submission loss against Jiri Prochazka.
Smith also highlighted that he himself made the error of underestimating Glover Teixeira based on his previous fights and paid for it. 'Lionheart' further indicated that Teixeira would be at his most dangerous in what could be his final fight:
"I said to Jamahal, 'Don't expect Glover to make the same mistakes twice.' The Prochazka fight is probably an outlier. It's gonna be tougher than that. If that Glover Teixeira shows up, I think Jamahal's got a pretty easy road ahead of him. But I don't suspect that that's going to be the guy that's gonna show up."
"He's going to be motivated. This is his [Teixeira's] last shot. This is going to be the toughest Glover Teixeira you're going to see in a while because he knows this is Brazil, this is his home country, he's in his forties. This is his last opportunity. If he loses, that's it."
Watch Smith discuss the topic at 11:48 in the video below:
Anthony Smith will serve as the backup fighter for Glover Teixeira vs. Jamahal Hill at UFC 283
Jamahal Hill is scheduled to face Glover Teixeira for the vacant UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 283 at the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on January 21, 2023. During a UFC Live session on ESPN MMA, one-time UFC light heavyweight title challenger Anthony Smith confirmed that he'd serve as the backup/replacement fighter for the Teixeira-Hill matchup.
'Lionheart' labeled the 43-year-old Glover Teixeira and 31-year-old Jamahal Hill as professionals who'll likely have no problem making it to the fight. That said, he asserted that if either fighter pulled out, he'd be present to take their spot in the title showdown:
"I am [going to be the backup]. I'm going to fly to Brazil. I'm going to weigh in at 205 pounds."
Watch Smith's assessment below: