Anthony Smith was unable to retire on a win tonight at UFC On ESPN 66 as Mingyang Zhang managed to TKO him in the opening round of the fight.
Round One
Body kick for Zhang to start and then a low kick. Inside low kick now and then one to the outside of the leg. Another connects and you could see Smith’s leg buckle a little there before he tries to fire back with punches.
Zhang pressuring and lands a side kick to the body. Smith clinches up and Zhang lands knees to the body as he’s getting pushed up against the cage.
Zhang moves away. Smith comes forward but Zhang fires off punches on the back foot nicely. Back to the calf kick now for Zhang. Elbows exchanged and Smith has a cut to the top of his head.
More good elbows and calf kicks from Zhang and Smith is wiping at the blood that’s leaking into his eye. Smith is wilting a bit here, but manages to go for a takedown attempt to break things up. Zhang able to prevent Smith getting on top though. Zhang stands and almost unleashes a kick to his still grounded opponent, but stops just in time and instead rains down some punches instead.
Smith is a bloody mess at this point as Zhang settles in on top and blasts down more elbow strikes. The ref urges Smith to do something, but he’s unable to, and that’s it, the ref steps in and Zhang gets a TKO victory over the retiring veteran at 4.03mins of the opening round.
