Anthony Smith dismisses corner controversy: Stop 'worrying about me'

Anthony Smith took a brutal beatdown at the hands of Glover Teixeira in the UFC Fight Night main event Wednesday in Jacksonville, but the former light heavyweight title challenger doesn't want people's sympathy.

Many criticized Smith's corner for continuing to send their fighter back into the Octagon despite him taking significant damage and clearly being far behind on the scorecards. After back-to-back dominant rounds, Teixeira eventually forced the referee to step in during the fifth.

Smith suffered a broken nose and orbital bone and lost two teeth, but he isn't interested in assessing his corner's decision:

"Everyone is arguing about good stop, bad stop, bad corner, good corner ... blah blah blah. I'm still winning," wrote Smith in an Instagram post Friday. "I'm good, and I'm exactly where I need to be, doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. All that time spent worrying about me needs to be spent somewhere a little more productive."

Smith was coming off last June's win over Alexander Gustafsson, and a victory against Teixeria would've put the 31-year-old back in contention for a rematch with champion Jon Jones. "Bones" beat Smith via unanimous decision in March 2019.