Anthony Smith is Tired of Johnny Walker’s Callouts

Johnny Walker apparently really wants to fight Anthony Smith, and it seems clear that the former title challenger is a wee bit tired of the callouts. While you won’t hear Smith calling out Walker in return, “Lionheart” will throw hands with the dynamic fighter if need be.

Smith fires verbal warning shot at Walker

Walker recently returned to the win column, as the 28-year-old ended a two-fight losing skid at UFC Vegas 11. Walker took on Ryan Spann at the event, and finished him in the opening round with elbows and punches.

Walker has reportedly been angling for a fight with Smith for some time. More recently, Smith appeared on Sirius XM, and while discussing Walker’s callouts, the 32-year-old contender said this (quotes via MMA Junkie).

“For whatever reason he wants to fight me, that’s like the third or fourth time he calls me out,” Smith said.

“I’m just like, ‘Shut up, dude. I’ll beat the (explicit) out of you.’

“Maybe I’ve lost two in a row, but I lost to two of the baddest (expletive) on the planet, you know what I mean.

It’s different, there’s levels to this (expletive). I’ll fight Johnny Walker if that’s what the UFC calls for, but I’m not going to go out there and call out Johny Walker, that’s for sure.”

So, these comments shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. At the end of the day, Smith is a tireless competitor and he’s fought several of the UFC’s top light heavyweights to date, including former champ Jon Jones.

In other words, he likely is very confident he can defeat Walker.

That said, it wouldn’t be shocking of the UFC took a look at this match-up. On paper, it has the makings of a great fight.

Further,  following Smith’s loss to Aleksandar Rakic last month, he’s slipped to the #8 ranking spot. Walker, meanwhile, is #10.

Smith weighs-on on Walker’s skills

The rugged veteran also shared out his assessment of Walker as a fighter. While Smith recognizes Walker is unorthodox and explosive, he believes the fighter has a lot of work to do in terms of his fundamentals.

“This is what my thing has always been about Johnny Walker: You can do the jumping (expletive), the spinning (expletive), and the flashy (expletive) that he has in his fights, but what we haven’t seen is Johnny Walker’s ability to be fundamental anywhere.

He’s not throwing straight one-two. He’s not throwing one-two and rolling under the hook that’s coming his way.

He’s not grabbing and snatching singles and passing the guard on the way down.

He seems to lack a lot of those fundamentals, and he makes up a lot of that stuff with his athleticism, power and explosiveness. That (expletive) is going to run out at some point.”

There you have it. Maybe we’ll see these two throwing hands in the not too distant future?