UFC light heavyweight veteran Anthony Smith will soon be hanging up his gloves content with all he achieved in the sport of mixed martial arts.
Smith announced his plans for one final farewell fight on mixed martial arts’ biggest stage after falling to a third loss in his last four fights in December 2024. He was knocked out by Dominick Reyes at UFC 310, a result that came five months on from another setback to middleweight contender Roman Dolidze.
With that, 2025 will mark the year in which “Lionheart” retires. Smith will conclude his career at UFC Kansas City this weekend, where he’ll meet an opponent who rides a streak of 11 first-round finishes in the form of Chinese prospect Zhang Mingyang.
During an appearance on Monday's episode of The Ariel Helwani Show on Uncrowned, Smith reflected on his lengthy stint as an active fighter and explained why the lack of a world title on his résumé isn't as frustrating as some may think.
I don't mean this to sound cocky or arrogant, but I've never, until now, felt like I've done something worth celebrating," Smith said. "I've never felt like I should be celebrated. I feel like now I've f*cking put in a career that I should be proud of and I should deserve to be able to celebrate it and be happy about it.
I didn't think I'd ever be happy if I didn't win a world title, but I found myself in a place where that's ok because it wasn't for lack of effort," Smith continued. "I tried really, really, really fucking hard and I'm just going to celebrate what I was able to do. I came from nothing.
