Anthony Smith respects Glover Teixeira, but says he can finish him at UFC on ESPN+ 31

Light heavyweight contender Anthony Smith is heading home for his next fight, and he’s almost as happy with the opponent as he is with his homecoming.

Smith will take on Brazilian veteran Glover Teixeira in the main event of UFC on ESPN+ 31 in Lincoln, Neb., on April 25 in a matchup between two hard-hitting 205-pounders who have great respect for each other.

“Yeah, I love it, man,” he recently told MMA Junkie. “I’m more happy with the location, for sure. But I’m happy to bring a guy like Glover Teixeira to Lincoln. There’s no trash talk; we have a lot of respect for each other. He’s not going to come in and trash my state. He’ll obviously be in hostile territory, but he’ll get a warm welcome. Nebraska people are respectful, and they’re obviously going to be cheering for me, but I don’t think anybody’s going to treat him badly. I’m excited for it.”

Smith admitted that he was surprised by the UFC’s decision to return to Lincoln so soon after their August 2018 event at the Pinnacle Bank Arena. But “Lionheart” said he’s excited to head home and showcase his skills in front of the people of his home state.

“They were just in Lincoln not that long ago, so I was really surprised that they were willing to come back and have me headline,” he said. “It’s been one of my bucket-list items my entire career, I always wanted to come back to Nebraska and headline an event there and kind of just show everyone what I’ve been doing. I’ve been on the road forever, and I’ve never had a UFC event any closer than Chicago, so it’s amazing to be back in Nebraska.”

Smith and Teixeira have spent time together in the past, both in Brazil and most recently in Las Vegas, where they both competed in the Quintet Ultra grappling event during International Fight Week. Smith says the pair now greet each other like old friends but also said their friendship would take a back seat on fight night when they throw down inside the octagon.

“He’s one of the good guys in this sport and, especially these days, I think some of those guys are a dying breed,” he said. “He’s just always been nothing but respectful to me. He helped me out a lot in Brazil. Any time we see each other, it’s an embrace, it’s a handshake and a hug. The last time I saw Glover, we had a beer together, so there’s no beef there.

“We’re both extremely high-level competitors. I know he’s competitive and he’s super-powerful and dangerous, so you can’t be too wrapped up in how nice a guy he is, because he’s going to go out there and try to take my head off, for sure.”

Smith says he hopes victory over Teixeira will set him up for a No. 1 contender fight in his next outing, with Poland’s Jan Blachowicz his preferred next opponent.

“Most likely Jan, because he’s coming off a win,” Smith said. “I would rather fight Jan, because he’s coming off a win, with four phenomenal performances against four tough guys. That’s the fight I want after Glover. But you can’t look through Glover – that’s when you start running into big problems.”

With that said, Smith does believe he has Teixeira’s number and predicted a mid-to-late round finish against the wily Brazilian veteran.

“I think it’ll be a third or fourth-round finish,” Smith said. “I’m not sure if it’ll be a knockout or a submission, but I think that eventually he’ll get frustrated and he’ll have to start taking bad shots. Whether I can take advantage of that with a submission or a knockout, I’m not sure. It’ll take me a little while.

“Glover’s a tough dude, he’s crafty, he’s been around a long time. It’s going to take a while to break a guy like that down and mentally, he’s hard to break. I do believe I’ll finish Glover, though.”