Anthony Smith accused Donald Cerrone and Dan Bilzerian of forcing his mother and wife from their seats at UFC 235. That accusation then caused a stir in the MMA community.
Since then, both Cerrone and Bilzerian have denied the story, claiming that it was “fabricated”.
Amidst the controversy, Smith clarified the story again and claimed that he’s not intending to talk bad about Cerrone, someone whom he really looks up to. In an interview with The Schmo, he said:
“Man, you know, honestly, I haven’t said anything about it because I wasn’t intentionally trying to sh*t on Cowboy, that wasn’t the purpose. I think it was collateral damage was really trying to sh*t on Dan Bilzerian,” Smith said.
“So I stand by everything that I said, but I wasn’t trying to sh*t on Cowboy, and initially, I wasn’t even gonna say his name. I’m fairly confident that Cowboy and I could sit down and have a five-minute conversation or less, and we can hash it out.”
“It’s on record, you can find it anywhere [about] how much I’ve looked up to Cowboy and I’ve said a lot of the most of those things, like, less than three years ago. So I mean, how many times have you heard me say I want to be the light heavyweight Cowboy Cerrone? I look up to that guy.”
“I don’t have any beef with Cowboy when I told the story, I didn’t have any beef with Cowboy, it wasn’t meant for Cowboy. So I am guilty of, you know, maybe being on a podcast with a good friend of mine and telling a story.”
However, he admitted that he maybe got emotional and told the story due to his mother’s passing. He also hopes that this shed a light on the controversy as he doesn’t like to have a beef, especially with ‘Cowboy’.
“I don’t know, to be very honest, my mom had just passed away, like two weeks before that. Maybe I was in my feelings a little bit. And I had never told the story because my mom was still alive and she was just like, embarrassed by it.”
“So I think maybe I was in my feelings and just got wrapped up in a conversation with a friend and maybe didn’t realize how many people might be listening. So, on that end of it, I probably should have just said something to Cowboy…I hope that this blows over, because I don’t like feeling when I have a beef.”
Feuds in MMA usually take a lot of time to blow over, and sometimes end badly outside or inside the octagon. However, with the honest clarification from Smith, hopefully, the tension will subside soon especially considering that Cowboy’s retirement can’t be too far.