Houston — Unbeaten welterweight Jacobe Smith looks for this third victory in the UFC when he takes on Josiah Harrell at UFC Houston this Saturday.
Smith (11-0) was originally booked opposite Seok Hyeon Ko, who was forced out of the event due to a rib injury. Despite the switch in opponents, which tends to favor the existing fighter, “Cobe” is taking his opponent no less seriously.
“I feel at this point in my career, every fight is, when you’re in it, the seriousness is, take this moment, this is the moment,” Smith told media outlets including Cageside Press during Wednesday’s UFC Houston media day, adding “but I’ve not felt the championship fight feeling. Outside of that, all the other ones is, when I’m in it, I’m in it, and I’m taking this guy as serious as possible, as he’s the best in the world right now. He’s stopping me, I’ve got to get through him to get to any step after him. So we take it very serious.”
Smith was an NJCAA national champion at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, and later an NCAA Division I All-American wrestler. It’s going to take something special to eclipse the feeling of his wrestling success, he noted.
“I’d say that title is what it’s going to take to beat that feeling, just due to the fact that, I didn’t enter this fight game to go win a title. I got into the fight game to give my family opportunities, to break the curses that we got in the past,” stated Smith.
As to what those curses are, he elaborated by saying that it was “just the typical, you know, growing up in the ghetto. The struggle. Mom still living in the Section 8 apartments. Food stamps, all that.”
“I came from that growing up, and I’m to the point where I’ve never been able to use food stamps as an adult because I’m pretty well taken care of with the job that I have, and my wife,” continued Smith. “But I’m trying to get to the point where I can provide jobs for my family and put them in positions where they don’t have to reply on Section 8 or the government, and this and that. Because being around that your whole life, it’s a sticky situation, and it’s tough to get out on your own.”
Watch the full UFC Houston media day appearance by Jacobe Smith above.
