The Magomed Ankalaev vs Jan Blachowicz fight for the Light-heavyweight title failed to decide a definitive winner. Jamahal Hill was given the opportunity to bring some fresh blood into the championship mix and he successfully did so.
Now if new talks are anything to go by, an Anthony Smith vs Jamahal Hill match might happen soon.
‘Lionheart’ spoke on the Beleive You Me podcast, “Glover is out because he retired; (Aleksandar) Rakic is still hurt, I don’t know what’s going on with Jan (Blachowicz) and (Magomed) Ankalaev. If I had to guess, I’m going to be very honest, I think it’s going to end up being me.
‘Jiri said on Ariel (Helwani’s) show that he still needed some time, he wanted his body to get right, then Jamahal had a response saying he wants to wait for Jiri, but he needs an answer by April. He wants to know, ‘Are you going or not?’ So I think I’ll fight before then, and I don’t know Jiri is going to be ready. I think he’s rushing it,’ he continued
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMV8SQsjbfE
This matchup seems extremely awkward considering Smith was part of Jamahal’s championship fight camp. Usually, there is an unwritten rule that fighters who train together don’t really fight against each other.
Of course for someone like Anthony who has reportedly criticized others for not making weight yet missed the mark himself as a backup fighter, such things are probably to be expected.
What would Anthony Smith vs Jamahal Hill imply?
Islam Makhachev fought in the same division as his friend Khabib. After the ‘Eagle’ retired only then did Makhachev start climbing the ranks. Vicente Luque and Gilbert Burns have also shared similar incidents.
In fact, Shavkat Rakhmonov has trained with ‘Durinho’ which could be one of the reasons why he didn’t get the Brazillian as his opponent when looking for a fight.
There are exceptions to this as well like Rafael Fiziev fighting Brad Ridell and, Cyril Gane fighting Francis Ngannou. Whatever the case, Anthony probably needs one more fight to bounce back inside the title picture though no opponent has been announced.
