"I do apologise for getting staph infection" - Anthony Smith responds to Magomed Ankalaev saying 'Lionheart' turned down fight

Anthony Smith has taken responsibility for his UFC fight against Magomed Ankalaev falling apart.

Ankalaev beat Thiago Santos in their UFC Vegas 50 main event bout. The Dagestani secured a unanimous decision victory over Santos and will now break into the 205-pound division's top five.

After the fight, Ankalaev recounted having been set up for a clash against former title challenger Anthony Smith. However, he was told that 'Lionheart' wasn't interested and turned down the fight.

In his defense, Smith confessed that he just had knee surgery at the time, and worse, he had a staph infection too. However, Smith's ready for a fight now and would be glad to finally make it happen this time around.

On ESPN's UFC Fight Night post-show, Smith explained:

“[Ankalaev] He was offered the fight, I was off of a knee surgery and staph infection so unfortunately, I wasn’t able to take it then. [But] I’m healthy now and I’ve been begging for a fight. I think we all been, me and the UFC included, have been waiting for this matchup to happen. It kind of how it unfolds, I guess I do apologize for getting staph infection, my bad.”

Watch Smith talk about Ankalaev below:

---

Anthony Smith lifts lid on Jon Jones' illegal knee

Another topic Anthony Smith recently addressed was Jon Jones' infamous illegal knee during their UFC 235 title fight. 'Lionheart' lost via unanimous decision to 'Bones', but he could've dethroned Jones via disqualification had he stayed down after taking the illegal knee to the head.

Lifting the lid on the subject, Smith admitted that he didn't know he could've been the champion at the time. Instead, the only thing he was trying to do was not let Jones know he was hurt.

In a recent video on Michael Bisping's YouTube channel, 'Lionheart' said:

“There was never a choice. I think that people think that I made this conscious decision to not do that. At the time, I had no idea that I would have been champion... It was never like, ‘Oh my god, I could be the champion'... What I didn’t want to do and what I’ve never been able to do in my entire career… I wasn’t willing to let Jon Jones know he hurt me, I would never have given him that moment… Never."

Watch Smith reflect on his fight with Jones below:

Smith is on a three-fight win streak and has turned things around. He was previously on a two-fight losing streak but seems to be close to his best in the octagon.