MMA Fighter Anthony Smith On Commentating For Kinektic On UFC Fight Pass & When His Next Fight For UFC Will Be

by Darren Paltrowitz
Jon Jones, left, of Endicott, N.Y., gets in a kick to the head of Rampage Jackson, of Irvine, Calif., during the first round of their UFC Light Heavyweight title bout, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011, in Denver. (AP Photo/ Jack Dempsey )
JACK DEMPSEY/AP

Was there a particular fight or fighter that got you into MMA in the first place?

Anthony Smith: Yeah, there's a couple. I would probably say one of my favorite fighters is probably Rampage Jackson... I would watch him compete and was like, "That's what I wanted to do." That's how I wanted to fight, I wanted people to react like that to me. I mean, who's not a fan of Rampage, right?

Absolutely, and he also had a crossover into wrestling, of course. Do any other sports for you come even close to MMA? Do you follow any teams or any particular athletes?

Anthony Smith: Well overall I'm a football fan. I definitely look forward to the Nebraska Cornhuskers football season, we do a lot of tailgating. I spend a lot of time at the games and doing stuff with the university. So I'm a huge college football fan and a big NFL football fan. But as far as anything that comes close to MMA, nothing even comes close.In general you mentioned that you're back in the ring soon and then you also have the announcing coming up and all that.

Are there any other projects that you're working on? For example, might there be a book from you anytime in the future?

Anthony Smith: No, not really, nothing like that... My hands are pretty full these days as far as I've got the commentating stuff, the radio stuff, training and fighting, and I still have a pretty young family. My oldest is eight, my youngest is two, plus one in the middle, so they take up a lot of your time. It's just a lot of work... In the future I'm sure something will come up.

Is music a big part of your training regimen? For example, some people they have to train to a certain beats per minute...

Anthony Smith: Typically I'm like a country music guy, but I don't need any certain amount of beats per minute or anything like that. But it's always got to be really, really high-energy rap music and that's just for whatever reason it just gets me moving. People will kind of crack jokes about it, it's the only thing that I'll let them play on it on the radio when I'm training, and I'm sure people probably get sick of it. But nothing specific.

Is there anything that you wish more people knew about you personally?

Anthony Smith: No, I don't think so. I think I'm pretty much an open book for the most part, kind of what you see is what you get, you know?

So in closing Anthony, any last words for the kids?

Anthony Smith: Yeah, I am a small-town Nebraska kid that came from a town of 4,000 people. No one ever thought I was going to be successful in anything my entire life. Right now I'm the number three ranked Light Heavyweight in the world and I live in my dream doing exactly what I wanted to do. So my advice to the kids would be find something you love and sell out on it.

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Darren Paltrowitz is a New York resident with over 20 years of entertainment industry experience. He began working around the music business as a teenager, interning for the manager of his then-favorite band Superdrag. In the years following, he has worked with a wide array of artists including OK Go, They Might Be Giants, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Loudness, Rachael Yamagata, and Amanda Palmer. Darren's writing has appeared in dozens of outlets including the New York Daily News, Inquisitr, The Daily Meal, The Hype Magazine, All Music Guide, Guitar World, TheStreet.com, Format Magazine, Businessweek, The Improper, Chicago Tribune, the L.A. Times, and the Jewish Journal. Darren is also the host of the "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" podcast, as co-produced with PureGrainAudio. He is also the author of two published books, including 2018's "Pocket Change: Your Happy Money" (Book Web Publishing) and 2019's "Good Advice From Professional Wrestling" (6623 Press).