LAS VEGAS – Elijah Smith beat Vince Morales with a unanimous decision Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC Fight Night 251 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Smith, the son of former UFC fighter Gilbert Smith, who won his promotional debut.
Elijah Smith def. Vince Morales
Result: Elijah Smith def. Vince Morales via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Updated records: Smith (8-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC), Morales (16-9 MMA, 3-7 UFC)
Key stats: In a back-and-forth fight that was virtually even from an odds standpoint heading in, Smith and Morales were neck-and-neck in striking, takedowns and control time, too.
Smith on the fight’s key moment
“I didn’t realize the uppercut that cut him clean. I knew it landed clean, but I didn’t realize it cut him. I heard (Daniel Cormier) say, ‘Oh, that cut him,’ and then after I started smelling the iron and the blood … when we finally got up to the feet and I saw his face, I was like, ‘All right, now let’s start targeting that. Let’s start throwing out some jabs and following up a little.’
“… I want to say I was ready for (his choke attempts), but I kept finding myself in those positions. So that’s something that we’re definitely going to go back and work on. There was a when he had the anaconda – man, that was pretty tight. That was pretty tight at one point in time. I did wheeze a little. I thought about tapping, but I just couldn’t. I was like, ‘No, no – we’re going to tough this out,’ because I know what it feels like to have an anaconda choke in … your arms are getting burned out. That’s what happened to me on the Contender Series. I felt his arms start loosening up, and it just takes a little bit of space. Once I felt that, I was like, OK – we’re good. I just had to be real calm in that position – really calm.”
Smith on the game plan
“On short notice, I think this time around we definitely game planned the perfect game plan. We went over some code words and things just to make sure that when we came into this fight, we were successful. I always felt like I was really good at being coachable, whether it was my pops or somebody else – just being coachable. I learned at a young age playing football and wrestling the best athletes are the ones who are able to be coached.”
Smith on what he wants next
“2025, I want to at least get two more fights. I’ve always been a pretty active fighter. If I don’t have any injuries, I want to go out there and show everybody Elijah ‘Swift’ Smith. I feel like I haven’t shown that yet, even though this was my debut for the UFC. I want to show Elijah ‘Swift’ Smith and what that means is I want to go out there and get a finish.”
To hear more from Smith, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 251.
UFC Fight Night 251: Best photos from Las Vegas
UFC Fight Night 251: Official scorecards from Las Vegas
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Elijah Smith gave serious thought to tapping from Vince Morales’ choke at UFC Fight Night 251
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