Anthony Smith’s next fight will be against Vitor Petrino at UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro on May 4th.
The 35-year-old Smith is coming off a TKO loss to Khalil Rountree Jr. back in December of last year. That marked his third loss in his last four fights, with a TKO loss to Magomedov Ankalaev and defeat on the scorecards to Johnny Walker being joined by a split-decision win over Ryan Spann.
As such Smith, who once fought Jon Jones for the 205lb title back in 2019, has now slid down to No.10 in the divisional rankings.
Now the veteran goes up against an undefeated former Contender Series recruit in the 26-year-old Vitor Petrino, who has made an impressive start to his UFC run with four wins registered in the space of a year inside the Octagon.
That run began with a decision victory over Anton Turkalj in March of last year, followed by a submission finish against Marcin Prachio. He ended last year with a KO victory over Modestas Bukauskas, and then earlier this month continued his winning streak by way of a unanimous decision victory against Tyson Pedro.
As such Petrino has now climbed up to No.15 in the light-heavyweight rankings and will now have his eyes set on progressing towards the Top 10 if he can earn his highest-profile win to date over Smith.
Smith vs. Petrino joins a UFC 301 card that does not yet have a confirmed headliner, but will also feature Paul Craig vs. Caio Borralho, Joaquim Silva vs. Drakkar Klose and Karolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Iasmin Lucindo.
