Anthony Smith should have fought this dude
in the crowd before retiring
#UFCKansasCitypic.twitter.com/oyM4cyWMka— Delinquent MMA (@DelinquentMMA)
April 27, 2025
Apparently not everyone in attendance at the T-Mobile Center in
Kansas City was there to pay tribute to Anthony
Smith as he officially called it a career on Saturday
night.
Shortly after the former light heavyweight title challenger
suffered a bloody technical knockout loss to Mingyang
Zhang in the UFC
Kansas City co-main event, “Lionheart” walked to one side of
the Octagon, where he appeared to yell and flip the bird to someone
in the crowd.
As it turns out, the fan in question had been taunting Smith even
before the fight began.
“There was a guy in a Nebraska shirt and he was like booing me and
flipping me off and kind of talking trash before the fight,” Smith
said on ESPN+ post-fight show. “But I was really focused on what I
had to do. Then after the fight, his friend is cheering and he’s
still flipping me off and saying some pretty disrespectful
things.
“I was so mad. He was wearing a Nebraska shirt. We’re supposed to
be family here. It’s not a very big community of people here. … I
just couldn’t believe that. I pour my heart and soul into this game
and I don’t care if you think that I suck or that I’m not very
good, if you’re sitting in the crowd, you’re definitely not doing
what I’m doing, especially wearing a Nebraska shirt. You can’t talk
trash wearing a Nebraska shirt. Like come on now. That’s all that
was.”
The moment was short-lived, and Smith moved on to have his moment
in the Octagon, which included some time on the microphone and a
video tribute. The 36-year-old Omaha, Nebraska native exits the
sport with a 38-22 career mark. His UFC tenure found new life in
2018 when he earned successive victories over Rashad
Evans, Mauricio Rua
and Volkan
Oezdemir to earn a 205-pound title shot. Though “Lionheart”
lost a unanimous decision to Jon Jones at
UFC 235, he has remained a prominent figure in the promotion, often
working as an analyst when he wasn’t fighting.
“It’s weird,” Smith said. “Because I’m used to fighting, whether
you win or you lose, you go onto whatever’s next. You start rolling
through this Rolodex like, ‘All right, I lost, so I’ve got to find
this guy, I’ve got to chase this ranking.’ You win, you’re looking
ahead. There is nothing else. “So I’m refusing to be sad. I
shouldn’t be allowed to be sad. It’s been a long journey. I’ve been
doing this since I was 17 years old, I’m going to be 37 in a couple
of months. I got enough. I built my life around what I was able to
do in this sport. It’s afforded me opportunities I was never, ever
able to have. I’m forcing myself to be happy that it happened and
not sad that it’s over.”
