“I would grade it a B+,” offered Smith when asked to grade his first year in the UFC. “I showed spurts of what type of fighter I am, and I also showed I can go out there and get a finish, which is obviously the biggest thing when you get into the UFC.
“My greatest takeaway was that even though I’m on the big stage, it’s just another fight; it really is,” he continued, showing his maturity and advanced mindset. “Of course, the money increases, there are more cameras, the fans, but at the end of the day, when you get into that cage and they shut the door, it’s just another fight.
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“I’ve been talking to my psychiatrist, Will Skeeters, who is helping me with the mental part of the game — going in there free-minded, comfortable, and remembering that it’s just another fight. Every fight is an important fight, so treat it as if it was my first amateur fight. Once you’re able to block that side of the fight game out, it becomes another fight, another Saturday night.”
This Saturday night, the highly regarded bantamweight prospect finally returns to action in a clash with fellow 2-0 sophomore You, who earned his place on the roster by winning the bantamweight tournament on Road to UFC Season 3 before collecting consecutive decision wins over AJ Cunningham and Xiao Long to open his time competing inside the Octagon.
When asked how much he knew of his opponent when he first got the name, Smith chuckled and admitted he was extremely aware of You before explaining why.
