UFC No. 3 light heavyweight contender Anthony Smith got some sort of a workout, and a huge scare, before UFC Fight Night 173, fighting off a home invader.
Slated to take on Glover Teixeira in the event set April 25 in Lincoln, Nebraska, Smith had a surprise skirmish in the early hours of Sunday (Monday, Manila time) before law enforcement officers arrived.
The 31-year-old Smith, a veteran of various promotional outfits and now at 33-14-0 (win-loss-draw), said he was baffled to have had to battle the invader, ‘a regular Joe,’ for five minutes.
“No normal human is able to fight like that. I’m by no means the baddest dude on the planet. But he’s a regular Joe, and I had a hard time dealing with him,” said Smith in an interview with ESPN.
“And he took everything that I gave him. Every punch, every knee, every elbow. He took every single one of them and kept fighting me.”
The intruder was later identified by the Douglas County (Nebraska) Sheriff’s Department as Luke Haberman, wo is being charged with first-degree criminal trespass.
Smith was with his wife, three daughters, and his mother-in-law in the house.
UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who outpointed Smith in UFC 235 last year, said on Twitter he is glad to hear his fellow fighter overcome the incident.
The flamboyant fighter added the result wouldn’t have been much different if it happened in his house.
“No way dude would have left my house walking,” Jones said.
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