The UFC was back again Wednesday night with another event at an empty arena in Jacksonville and the main event turned out to be a violent one that should have ended well before it did.
It also saw Anthony Smith, who ended up losing to Glover Teixeira via a fifth-round TKO, hand his teeth that fell out to the referee Jason Herzog while Teixeira was on top of Smith delivering more blows.
That moment happened in the fourth round in a fight that never should have seen a fifth round. Smith was beaten up badly and his corner should have done the right thing and not let him go out for the fifth, especially when you see this:
Anthony Smith legitimately handing Ref Jason Herzog his teeth in the middle of round 4 #UFCJAX #UFCFightNight #UFCJacksonville pic.twitter.com/SVYV4x6NYH
— Debate and Debauchery (@dbatendbauchery) May 14, 2020
Dana White said he was shocked Anthony Smith came out for the 5th round. He also added that he was handing the ref his teeth (which was put in his pocket) #UFCJax pic.twitter.com/QeHBboAccj
— Helen Yee (@HelenYeeSports) May 14, 2020
Smith told his corner in between the fourth and fifth final round that his teeth were falling out, which seemed like a way of him asking his corner to do their job and protect their fighter and call the fight, but they didn’t do that.
The ref should’ve done his job, too, and called it before the fight got to the fifth round.
UFC Twitter was rightly not happy about all of it:
I would have stopped the fight, corner could have saved their guy from getting finished. Some mistakes in that corner tonight. And I love those guys! Too much instruction, no crowd to filter it. Anthony Smith is a savage, but props to @gloverteixeira on big victory.
— Daniel Cormier (@dc_mma) May 14, 2020
Yeah. Great commentating by Paul Felder. Listen to your fighter. Anthony Smith looked defeated in the corner. Not, 'in need of a pep talk' defeated. Like, gone. Stop the fight for him.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) May 14, 2020
Anthony Smith needs a new corner for not stopping that absolute beat down he received for 3 rounds straight and that ref needs fired for letting it go on that long, damn that was rough to watch. Dudes gonna have lasting damage for awhile because of that
— Bailey Schober (@SoberSchober22) May 14, 2020
This is not a title fight.
Not a title eliminator.
It’s main event in an empty arena on a Wednesday.
The corner failed Anthony Smith.#UFCJAX— MMA mania (@mmamania) May 14, 2020
Anthony Smith: "My teeth are falling out." How does he go back out for five more minutes of that??
— Jim Rome (@jimrome) May 14, 2020
Anthony Smith has no quit in him but I really felt like the corner should've thrown in the towel and saved their guy. Very unfortunate. Props to Glover Teixeira. At 40, the man can still go at the very top level. Respect. #UFCJAX
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) May 14, 2020
Everyone failed Anthony Smith tonight.
The ref didn't do his job
His corner didn't do their job.
The cageside physician didn't do his job.
In a time when the UFC is THE ONLY LIVE SPORT ON TV… this is what you show people.#UFCJacksonville @UFC @danawhite— Guy Shook (@GuyShook79) May 14, 2020
Anthony Smith’s corner definitely should’ve thrown in the towel, but I also believe Jason Herzog didn’t execute properly tonight, either. He’s one of the best in the game, but that was a bad outing for him.
— Felix Levine (@FelixLevine) May 14, 2020
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