Carlos Ulberg has been on Anthony Smith’s radar long before he got the short notice call to fight him.
Originally a replacement for an injured Khalil Rountree Jr., Ulberg stepped up on short notice to fight former champ Jamahal Hill in the co-main event of UFC 303. However, things don’t always go according to plan as Hill withdrew due to a knee injury, leaving Ulberg to fight another contender in #10-ranked Smith, who’s coming off a submission win at UFC 301.
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With the fight cutting it close, Smith says he’s already been studying Ulberg for weeks as he was helping his teammate Hill prepare for him in his latest training camp.
“I think I was the natural next progression just because I think the UFC knew I was in training camp,” Smith told Submission Radio. “They knew I was ready. They called, and I said, yeah. It seems short notice, but it’s definitely more short notice for him. I’d already been thinking about Carlos Ulberg for several weeks. So, it feels normal because I was already pretty focused on him.”
Ulberg is coming off the biggest win of his career—a 12-second KO of ranked contender Alonzo Menifield in May. “Black Jag” has looked perfect since losing his UFC debut, going 6-0 since then. He will look to inch closer to the title with a win over Smith.
However, the former title challenger is convinced Ulberg hasn’t fought anyone like him.
“He does a really good job of making people fight him on his terms,” Smith said of Ulberg. “But, just because of the trajectory of his career, he hasn’t fought anybody in the top ten. He doesn’t fight anybody in the top 5. And to do that and be successful, you have to be able to fight anywhere. And he’s done a very good job of forcing people to fight him where he wants to fight. I’m just not that guy. I’m going to fight everywhere and that’s how I always do it.
“I’m a legitimate Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. I can wrestle. I can fight in the clinch. I can strike with you. I can fight anywhere. I think that’s what I meant by that— he hasn’t fought anyone at my level that can do everything and be a danger every single place.”
While Smith is considered a step up in competition from what Ulberg has faced in the past, Ulberg’s coach Eugene Bareman says a win at UFC 303 would change his fighter’s “whole trajectory”. Bareman originally said that when pitted across from Jamahal Hill, but it also applies against a UFC veteran like Smith.
“I know in the sport that your career at the top can be cruising at a fairly mundane pace and then all of a sudden within a few weeks and a couple of decisions at the top, your whole path of your career and whole path of your life can change,” Bareman told the NZ Herald last week. “It’s just one or two decisions, one or two paths that you get put on and boom, the whole trajectory of your life and your career change…”
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Will the change in pace be too great for Carlos Ulberg, or will the Kiwi prevail against former UFC title challenger Anthony Smith on fight night?
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