Earlier Tuesday, light-heavyweight Johnny Walker fell out of his fight with Jimmy Crute, replacing Walker is the exciting Anthony Smith on short-notice. The news was first reported by ESPN and the action goes down on April 24th, but as of right now the location, venue, and most of the fights have yet to be confirmed.
Initially, Crute was scheduled to fight Walker but the Brazilian was removed because of a torn pectoral muscle. It is now Crute vs. Smith and fans were lucky to receive such a notable replacement on short notice. Smith has struggled in the past against stellar competition but, “Lionheart” finally picked up a victory against Devin Clark. Prior to that, the American was on a slump. Specifically, he struggled against Aleksandar Rakić and Glover Teixeira in 2020.
Anthony Smith vs. Jimmy Crute On Deck
Crute is a problem for the light-heavyweight division. Why? Despite the one loss on his record, his well-rounded game is difficult to stifle. With solid victories over opponents like Michał Oleksiejczuk and Modestas Bukauskas, the Australian is a proven force inside the cage. Although he had a setback against Misha Cirkunov in 2019, the young 24-year old prospect has looked dynamic in most of his UFC performances.
While fans have seen Smith as the hammer and the nail, it makes it difficult to predict which one will show up on fight night. Granted, when Smith is on his game his striking onslaughts are hard to escape. Conversely, when the American’s chips are down he is able to secure miraculous chokes too. So you can never count out the “Lionheart”.
With the addition of Anthony Smith taking on Jimmy Crute, here is an up-to-date schedule of the fights for UFC 261:
- Uriah Hall vs. Chris Weidman
- Jimmy Crute vs. Anthony Smith
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