Anthony Smith suffered a TKO loss in the final fight of his career against Mingyang Zhang at UFC On ESPN 66 on Saturday night and was then caught on camera repeatedly giving the middle finger to someone outside of the cage and then angrily moving towards them before being held back.
As the dust now settles on his final fight Smith has explained who he was reacting so furiously towards, and what triggered him to act that way.
“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 post-fight. “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!”
Smith proudly hails from Omaha, Nebraska, so the torrent of abuse literally added insult to injury, and led to the man who had just left him in a bloodied heap on the canvas, Zhang to step in and try to calm him down.
“Mingyang is like, ‘Don’t do this brother, you’ve got to quit that,’” Smith said. “Listen, I was emotional. The fight didn’t go the way I wanted it to go. That is what it is. That’s just part of the game.
“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.”
It was a sour moment on an already tough night for Smith, but there was a heart-warming moment soon afterwards when the UFC rolled a special tribute video to him featuring the likes of Chael Sonnen, Din Thomas, Rashad Evans, Glover Teixeira, Jon Anik, singer Jelly Roll and even Teddy Atlas, while he was surrounded by his family in the Octagon.
“It’s weird,” Smith said as he reflected on the fact his fighting career is now over. “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.”
Check out the UFC’s tribute to Smith below.
