While approaching UFC's retirement, Anthony Smith finally feels that he has “a career of which I should be proud”

Anthony Smith knew that more fight was all he wanted after his difficult loss against Dominick Reyes in December.

The only UFC Challenger title will face the prospect of the rise in heavy goods vehicles on the rise of Zhang Mingyang in the co-printing event of the UFC Kansas City this Saturday, which also acts as a Smith swan song after a 17-year-old professional race. A victory for Smith would break a slippage of two fights, sending it to the retirement on a high note. Smith spoke of the big week on Monday “The Ariel Helwani Show from Non-Couronne”.

Advertisement

“I knew I wanted one more, and really, I just wanted to do it in my own way. I just wanted to control it,” said Smith. “I didn't want to be: 'Oh guy, it really sucks and I'm going to put my head in the sand and hide and never do it again.' I know that this is how some people retire, but I wanted it to be on my own conditions.

“Of course, I asked Omaha,” added Smith, a Nebraska resident, “but Kansas City was as close as possible, so that's what we did.”

Smith, 36, was opened on the impact that the premature death of his longtime coach, Scott Morton, had on him. Morton died unexpectedly last November, a month before Smith's fight against Reyes at the UFC 310. “Lionheart” pushed through the incredible devastation he felt – and, in the end, it led him to an easier decision concerning the retirement he did not expect.

Advertisement

“Scotty wanted me to retire for a while,” said Smith. “He said,” What are we doing? You don't have to do that anymore. You can just go to be a dad. Why do we continue to run here? “For any reason, I kept saying:” I will feel it. I would convince him: “Let's do it once again”. Then we were fighting and went, “we can go one more”.

“I had no pension thoughts or intentions (with) all that. But I don't really leave something that I love so much anyway. The game is different without him, and it was just him and me for almost 20 years. Not only him and me, but it was one and I am doing others. The preparation is different, the head of the series is different.

Reyes stopped Smith in the second round in December to continue The current momentum of Reyes.

Advertisement

Although the result has officially fallen as a loss of Smith's MMA record, Smith described experience as a therapeutic victory for life.

It was a question of managing a “tragedy at the top of the tragedy” for Smith, although the long -standing competitor of 205 pounds admits that he is not entirely free of the trauma which came with the death of Morton.

“This Monday before, I was in hell,” said Smith. “I lived a nightmare after the fact that some days always fear really, but I really need this fight.

“I am in a way credited Dominick Reyes for that. He did not show me at all as a mercy. He did not feel bad for me and left the gas at all. He did not feel bad for me and did not do me in these situations when he had the opportunity to – and I really needed. It was a cathartic experience for me.”

Advertisement

Smith has been a competitor still active since his professional debut in 2008. After fighting for years as an average weight, during which he probably exhausted for longer that he should have, Smith had his best race at 205 pounds. The victories against the former champions and the temple of renown Rashad Evans and Mauricio Rua were followed by a submission of Volkan Oezdemir, winning Smith a title in 2019 against Jon Jones.

Evans and Rua are only two of the many great memories of which Smith can be proud. After 17 years, he finally takes the time to appreciate his achievements – even if it is only slightly.

“I don't mean that it seems arrogant or arrogant, but I never felt like I did something that deserves to be celebrated,” said Smith. “I never had the impression that I had to be celebrated. It is never something I was looking for, but I have the impression that now I have made the career that I should be proud of, and I should deserve to be able to celebrate it and be happy. Really, really, really hard, and I'm just going to celebrate what I could do.

Advertisement

“I came from nothing. People like me who come from where I come from don't do things like that. They don't do it, and I should be happy that it happened and not allow me to think about the things I have not accomplished.”

It was a mixed bag for Smith in the column of victories in the years that followed his setback in Jones, but he thinks that there is no reason to drag his retirement. And although the MMA can be out of the table after the UFC Kansas City, it admitted an opening to certain “freak show” boxing possibilities.

Before he can concentrate, however, Smith will exchange blows with the zhang striking on Saturday.

Advertisement

“I did not know him, I never heard his name – and I looked at him briefly, and I liked what I had seen,” said Smith. “I wanted a reason, however. I wanted to know why this name. So I spoke to (Matchmaker UFC) Mick Maynard – he just found me at a show and I worked and met him on a cage by the cage. We watched some fights together, and he explained part of their philosophy with the fight, and I was good with that.

“It is a commercial decision, that I understand. But I think you can be honest with me and not hurt my feelings. (Zhang is) a really difficult arrival, but I think they do not know where it is really in terms of skills and how good it is. It is difficult to match the guys who are in his similar position, these guys, all these young people. To catch us.

“So, I think the UFC is not sure of Zhang's quality in terms of-does he have a high ceiling? I think yes. How good is it right now? I don't know. We will see in the second round,” continued Smith. “I think it's a part of this. You have to put someone hard in front of him because you will not really discover what is his level – and what kind of fighter he is, and who he is as a person – until you can make sure that someone exceeds him where he is comfortable. He does not make his foot in the first round.”