After a lengthy career in Mixed Martial Arts, “Lionheart” tells the sport thank you and goodbye.
Anthony Smith retired from active MMA competition following his loss against Zhang Mingyang in the co-main event of UFC Kansas City. Mingyang’s streak of consecutive first-round finishes remains as a result.
“Every single one of you made an impact on my life,” Smith said. “When I started this game, I was homeless. I had nothing going for me. And now this platform has allowed me to raise my family, my four beautiful daughters, and give them a life that I’ve never been able to have. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much.”
Zhang started things off with leg kicks before catching Smith trying to come in. Though Smith tried to pressure, Zhang was ready with his striking, mixing together punches and low kicks. Zhang soon changed things up to nasty elbows, cutting Smith open on his head. Smith was a bloody mess not long after and shot for a takedown to try and change things.
It was unsuccessful, however, and a battered Smith continued to take a beating with elbows and ground-and-pound until the referee stepped in.
Anthony Smith Falls To Zhang Mingyang In Retirement Fight At UFC Kansas City
Anthony Smith acknowledging this young fan and making his day is too wholesome.Win or lose tonight, he's one of the good guys in this sport
#UFCKansasCity pic.twitter.com/5eS1nhF2LU
— The Fight Bubble (@thefightbubble) April 27, 2025
I don’t care what you think about Anthony Smith. That fucking sucks to see. Retire the name Lionheart with him. He gets to take that with him. Dude could have taken a win over Jon Jones and been forever in history a UFC champion but he didn’t out of principle. That dude deserves…
— MacMally
(@MacMallyMMA) April 27, 2025
Smith began his professional MMA venture in 2008, going to compete for numerous promotions, including Strikeforce, Bellator, and Cage Fury FC before arriving to the UFC in 2016. After a 4-2 run at middleweight in the Octagon, Smith moved up to light heavyweight and made a name for himself with sub-90-second finishes of both Rashad Evans and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in 2018.
Smith would follow that up with a submission of Volkan Oezdemir to earn a shot at Jon Jones and the light heavyweight championship at UFC 235. Jones was in control for most of the fight, but the moment of the fight came when Smith was hit with an illegal knee in the fourth round. Rather than take the disqualification loss and title like Aljamain Sterling would do three years later against Petr Yan, Smith elected to continue the fight. Though Jones was deducted two points for the foul, he still won a unanimous decision.
Smith would go on to be a streaky fighter following the fight, ending his career 6-8 (7-7 with win) since the loss to Jones.
Mingyang, meanwhile, entered tonight’s bout 2-0 in the UFC after a first-round knockout on Road to UFC in 2022. In 2024, Mingyang scored first-round finishes of Brendson Ribiero and Ozzy Diaz.
