UFC veteran Anthony Smith is ready to hang up his gloves and walk away from the sport after a long and hard-fought career.
The former UFC title challenger recently announced plans for one final bout at UFC Kansas City before retiring from MMA. Though he’s currently on a three-fight losing streak, Smith hopes to end on a high note with a win in his upcoming fight. He is set to face Chinese knockout artist Zhang Mingyang, who holds an impressive streak of 11 first-round finishes.
During an appearance on Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show”, Smith reflected on his career and explained why not winning a world title isn’t as disappointing as many might think.
“I knew that I wanted one more, and really, I just wanted to do it my way. I wanted to be in control of it,” Smith said. “I didn’t want to be like, ‘Oh man, this really sucks,’ and then stick my head in the sand and just disappear. I know that’s how some people retire, but I wanted to go out on my own terms.
“I’m not one of those guys who says, ‘It has to be a win, or I can’t retire.’ What I wanted was a favorable setup, enough time to prepare, a solid training camp. Best-case scenario, nobody dies in the process. Those were the things I needed.”
Smith, a Nebraska native, had one location in mind for his final fight.
“Of course I asked for Omaha,” he said. “But Kansas City was as close as they could get, so that’s what we went with.”
Smith also opened up about the emotional toll of losing his longtime coach, Scotty Morton, who passed away just one month before Smith’s bout with Dominick Reyes. Despite the heartbreak, Smith fought through the pain and stepped into the cage, though he ultimately lost that fight.. Nonetheless, Smith saw the loss to Reyes as a therapeutic as he revealed that he really needed the fight in that moment.
“Scotty wanted me to retire for a while,” Smith said. “He’d ask, ‘What are we doing? You don’t have to do this anymore. You can just go be a dad. Why do we keep running out here?’ And for some reason, I kept saying, ‘I’ll feel it. When it’s time, I’ll know.’ I’d convince him, ‘Let’s do it one more time.’ Then we’d fight and say, ‘We can go one more.’”
“I had no thoughts of retirement at that point,” he continued. “But I’m not really leaving something I still love that much anymore. The game is different without him. For almost 20 years, it had been just him and me, well, not only us, but it was our thing. We were on this journey together, and now that he’s gone, it doesn’t feel like I’m leaving the same thing I once had. The preparation feels different. The lead-up feels different. And this isn’t something I want to get used to, if that makes sense.”
After retirement, Smith has no plans to return to MMA but hinted at a possible venture into boxing. He admitted he might step into the ring for a boxing match, but nothing is certain on that front.
For now, Smith is focusing on his broadcasting career. He plans to branch out and launch his own podcast after stepping away from his co-hosting role with Michael Bisping on the Believe You Me podcast. His broadcasting journey began with an appearance on a SiriusXM show hosted by Dan Hardy, which opened the door for future media opportunities, including television work and eventually his collaboration with Bisping.
“Michael Bisping saved my ass in that gig,” Smith said. “He gave me a crash course in desk work and broadcasting when we were at FOX. He made me feel comfortable, helped me out a lot on that first show, and really covered for me. He carried me through a lot of situations. He saved me.”
Despite stepping away from the podcast, Smith says there’s no bad blood between him and the UFC Hall of Famer.
“We’re good,” Smith said about his relationship with Bisping. “He would have told everybody, if Bisping hated me, you guys would know it. When has he ever minced words? There’s things that happened that neither of us has talked about in the background. Nothing to do with conflict or anything like that. Bisping and I are good.
“That was the plan in conversations that Bisping and I had from the beginning [that I would go onto create my own show]. There was no shock I was going to start my own show. It wasn’t a surprise to anyone behind the scenes. He’s incredible. He’s an incredible dude. He helped me a lot.”
