Anthony Smith recounts fighting, partying with opponent who got out of jail the same day

UFC light heavyweight contender Anthony Smith once fought an opponent who got out of jail the very same day as their bout.

Smith, who takes on Glover Teixeira in the main event of tonight’s UFC Jacksonville card, shared this wild story in a recent interview with MMA Fighting.

“I’m fighting Lucas St. Claire in Fargo and I think that was Chris Tuchscherer’s show,” Smith said. “That was a big deal back then because Chris’ claim to fame at the time was that he was Brock Lesnar’s main training partner. I’m fighting this dude and I’m not getting any information. Is the contract signed?

“Well it turns out Lucas St. Claire signed the contract to fight me while he was in jail. The fight was on an Indian reservation I believe but he was also Native American and I believe he was in a Native American jail. So he got out the day of the fight.”

Smith says that, despite these strange circumstances, he was willing to take the fight because it provided him with a payday, and some valuable in-cage experience.

“He gets out [of jail] that morning. I had a hell of a terrible weight cut. I’m thinking I’m going fight this guy getting out of jail and it’s going to be no problem,” Smith said. “I go in there and have one of the toughest fights I’ve had in my entire life.

“This motherf*cker was tough. He was good. I had him deep in a couple of submissions and he just wouldn’t tap. I was like popping his leg in a knee bar. I ended up arm barring him but he never actually tapped. I’ll give it to him. The referee stopped it because it was disgusting looking but he never actually tapped.”

Anthony Smith ended up hitting it off with St. Claire post-fight, and they agreed to meet up for drinks. From the sounds of it, it was a pretty wild experience.

“After the fight, he ends up being a pretty cool ass dude,” Smith said. “I’m a young kid, I’m down to party. He ends up being like ‘let’s party after this’ and so I said I’m going to go to my hotel room and shower and then we’ll party. I go to my hotel room and he’s already in it!

“By the time I get there, I got all my sh*t together at the venue and it takes a while to get paid, but by the time I get to my room, he’s already inside of the room. I didn’t even tell him what hotel I was at and I didn’t tell him what room I was in. He’s sitting in my room with all the booze and three of his buddies and I’m like what is happening?

“It was just chaotic,” Smith continued. “We ended up ordering pizza and we were taking muffins and dipping them in tomato sauce and throwing them out the window like they were grenades. It was terrible. There was pizza sauce everywhere.

“Then people were rough housing and I’m on the second or third floor. It was one of those cheap, rat infested hotels or whatever. They got the window air conditioners in there. Someone bumps it and the whole air conditioner falls out of the window. It falls two or three stories. It was wild. Any time I get, I love to tell the Lucas St. Claire story.”

What do you think of this wild story from Anthony Smith?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 5/13/2020.