Glover Teixeira Delivers Vicious Beatdown To Anthony Smith, Literally Knocking The Teeth Out Of His Head
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Yikes. It ain't often that I find a fight uncomfortable to watch at this point, but towards the end of tonight's main event, I was really having a hard time not wincing and cringing with each and every blow that landed. Glover Teixeira just kicked the everliving shit out of Anthony Smith. Absolutely mauled him.
Anthony "Lionheart" Smith started things off looking incredibly crisp, and even much faster than the older Glover, but as the fight continued along, his gas tank just went more and more, and his chin ate tons of damage - most of which after Round 3 was completely unnecessary.
I don't know I've ever seen MMA Twitter more united across the board (fighters, coaches, media, fans) than they were in calling for this fight to be stopped somewhere in the middle of the 4th, and then even moreso after Anthony Smith's first words to his corner going into the 5th were, "My teeth are falling out."
Shockingly, that was almost completely ignored, kinda given a, "Yeah, great - focus!" from his coach, and he was sent back out there to be finished...and he was finished. Just like we knew he would be.
I assume this will be the #1 narrative coming out of tonight. If you didn't stop this fight, I don't know what fight you do stop. You almost never see the towel thrown in MMA, and I don't know why!
Well, I get it - fights can reeeaaally change on a dime in the cage with 4oz gloves, and win bonuses are sometimes very necessary for these guys - but it couldn't be more obvious to everybody and their mothers that Smith was taking brutal and unnecessary damage for so much of this fight, and there was absolutely no reason to see him leave his stool with a toothless mouth after getting his ass kicked the way he did in Round 4. Gotta be better in that regard.
All the credit in the world to Glover Teixeira for a phenomenal performance, and to Anthony Smith for showing that "Lionheart" - heal up soon. More fights Saturday!