While initially surprised by the matchup chosen to be his last, UFC light heavyweight Anthony Smith says he now understands it.
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. And he’ll do so opposite a curious choice of opposition.
It was recently announced that Smith will hang up the gloves at UFC Kansas City this coming April, where he’ll meet an opponent who rides a streak of 11 first-round finishes in the form of Chinese prospect Zhang Mingyang.
During the latest episode of his On Paper podcast, Smith admitted to being “shocked” at first when the bout was presented to him. But while many see him as the UFC’s sacrificial lamb as the promotion looks to build the “Mountain Tiger,” the 36-year-old former title challenger doesn’t see it that way.
“I didn’t have any suggestions, but I was very shocked with the matchup, for sure,” Smith said. “That wasn’t a bad thing, I just was not expecting that one, but once I kind of looked into him a little bit and sat on it, it makes a lot of sense why they would go in that direction.
“I have a lot of conversations with these guys — and if they did (book the fight for Zhang to win), they’re probably not going to tell me — but Mick Maynard and Sean Shelby have always told me that they don’t care who wins. They want good fights. They want interesting matchups. And they put people in positions and it’s up to you to do what you what you do with it,” Smith continued. “Of course, we can think of people that were favorably matched and put in some better positions than others, but I’ve known Mick Maynard and Sean Shelby and those guys a really long time and they’ve always been pretty straight-up with me, even in times that I don’t like it.”
UFC Kansas City remains without a main event as of now, but names like Giga Chikadze, Michel Pereira, and Ikram Aliskerov are among those slated to join Smith’s retirement fight on the April 26 lineup.
