Following his KO loss at UFC Kansas, a blood-soaked Anthony Smith was seen flipping someone off as his team attended to him. It was a slightly perplexing visual, considering this was the last octagon trip Smith was ever going to make. But fret not, ‘Lionheart’ has now come out and explained his reasons for his unusual behavior
Taking on Zhang Mingyang, the Nebraska-born challenger, Smith was stopped in the very first round, to make it his sixth loss in the last eight fights at the light heavyweight limit.
Courtesy of a series of elbow strikes from the Chinese prospect, Smith also had a massive laceration on his head. However, Mingyang wasn’t the one he was angry with. The veteran fighter was apparently communicating with someone in the crowd.
“There was a guy in a Nebraska shirt, and he was like booing me,” Smith told on the UFC Kansas City post-fight show with ESPN. Now, that is to be expected from UFC fans, but this man was apparently doing much more to tick Smith off.
“(He was) flipping me off and kind of talking trash before the 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”, Smith noted in frustration.
What made it worse was that Smith quickly figured he was a fellow Nebraskan.
“He was wearing a Nebraska shirt. We’re supposed to be family here. It’s not a very big community of people here,” he added, pointing out
“I was so mad… 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“, the retired fighter reiterated.
However, it wasn’t all gloom and doom for the former light heavyweight contender. Looking back at his 14-year-long career, Smith claimed to feel grateful and thankful – to say the least.
Receiving a post-fight media package on his storied career, the teary-eyed veteran thanked the UFC brass for their support.
Smith thanks Dana White for signing him to UFC
Competing for Octagon spoils on just one occasion in the UFC, Smith initially joined from Strikeforce as part of the 2013 merger.
Smith admitted he was overjoyed to receive the opportunity in the first place.
“I want to thank Dana (White), Hunter (Campbell), and Sean Shelby for dragging me out of the depths of nowhere. When I was cut from Strikeforce,” he said.
The fighter didn’t forget to thank everyone else in the building who ever helped him throughout his eventful career as well.
“All the blue shirts, the security guys, every single staff member down to the makeup ladies. Every single one of you made an impact on my life,” he said at the post-fight press conference.
The fighter also took to Instagram and posted a picture of himself getting patched up and congratulated Zhang on his win tonight.
Addressing fans, on the same post, he said, “Thank you to all the people who have supported me all these years. I was never good enough to make it this far…I’m just really happy that it all happened. Thank you to the UFC for saving my life.“
