Alex Pereira and Anthony Smith squash their beef 🤝
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#UFC307 pic.twitter.com/tIYQ2sfejd
— Championship Round (@ChampRDS)
September 30, 2024
Alex Pereira and Anthony Smith have finally joined forces.
The feud began when Smith, during a commentary assignment, claimed that Pereira’s rapid success in the UFC happened without him having been tested in grappling. “Poitan” felt that Smith always downplayed his accomplishments every time he stepped on the microphone.
This led to a series of exchanges between the two, which Pereira called “Lionheart”. Pereira was also in attendance for Smith’s upset submission victory over Vitor Petrino at UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro in May of this year. Pereira posted a video of himself pretending to take a nap as Smith’s match was about to begin. “Poitan” then challenged Smith to a $50,000 grappling match, which the latter verbally accepted.
However, that didn’t happen, and Pereira was forced to sit out and defend his light heavyweight title in a rematch with Jiri Prochaska at UFC 303 the following month. The Brazilian is currently scheduled to defend the strap against Khalil Rountree Jr. in the main event of UFC 307 on Saturday at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Prior to the match, Pereira met with Smith where he buried the hatchet. Pereira presented Smith with his branded shirt and the ‘Lionheart’ expressed his gratitude and heartfelt respect for the champion and his team.
UFC 307: Pereira vs. Rountree Jr. Saturday at 10 a.m. ET on ESPN+. Order now!
“Thank you for doing this and for sitting with me,” Smith said. “Aside from any competitive rivalry or anything that came before, I have a lot of respect for you. I’m a big fan of your game. I love watching you fight. Here in Salt Lake City. Good luck and a big thank you to you and your entire team.”
Smith appears to have approached Pereira’s mentor and coach, Glover Teixeira, to help squash the beef. Since then, Pereira has held no ill will or grudge towards Smith and admits he feels better because of it.
“Thank you for reaching out,” Pereira said. “Ever since you talked to Grover, I don’t think there was any ill will, and I didn’t hold any grudges about any of our interactions. I’m feeling a lot better today.”
Smith is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Roman Dorise at UFC 303, and will next fight fellow veteran Dominick Reyes at UFC 310 on December 7th at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. .
