Anthony Smith’s long career in the UFC came to an end on Saturday night at UFC Kansas City.
After 58 professional MMA fights, Anthony Smith knew after his loss against Dominick Reyes last year that he only had one more outing left in him.
The UFC veteran was then matched up with Mingyang Zhang at UFC Kansas City this Saturday, bidding farewell to his long tenure in the premier promotion.
Smith famously came extremely close to beating Jon Jones when he fought him for the title in 2019, agreeing to carry on fighting after being hit with an illegal knee, instead of taking the DQ win to become the UFC champion.
Conor McGregor cryptically mocks Anthony Smith’s loss
Although the 36-year-old was hopeful of bowing out of his successful UFC career with a win, early on in his fight against the Chinese striker, he quickly realized why he was retiring now and not in a few years time.
Early on in the fight, Smith was cut open by a sharp elbow, resulting in the former title challenger leaking with blood all over the Octagon as he attempted to regain his composure.
Being at a clear disadvantage on the feet, Smith attempted to take the fight down to the ground but was reversed by Mingyang, who reigned down more brutal elbows, resulting in the referee stepping in and calling the fight off.
Left in a bloody mess, Smith sat up and seemingly began to swear at a member of the crowd, and proceeded to run over to the cage and attempted to climb over to confront the fan.
Fortunately, though, his team and opponent managed to calm him down as he took in his final moments in the cage.
Although many fans and fighters were supportive of Smith in his final outing, someone who wasn’t is former UFC double champion, Conor McGregor, who seemingly mocked him in a now-deleted post on X.
Conor McGregor and Anthony Smith have history
Even though the Irishman’s mocking of Smith may seem unprovoked, the two have somewhat of a history with each other.
After McGregor broke his leg in his last fight against Dustin Poirier, he went on to leave the UFC anti-doping testing pool and put on a lot of size during his time out of fighting.
Smith went on to claim that some foul-play could’ve been going on from McGregor, which resulted in a retaliation from the Irishman who called Smith ‘an embarrassment of a man’.
With Smith likely continuing his role as an analyst for the UFC, he could potentially have a lot to say regarding McGregor’s teased comeback to the Octagon.