On this day in 2020, the UFC’s main event between two top contenders in the light heavyweight division became an uncomfortable watch.
Anthony Smith recently retired after making the walk for one last time at UFC Kansas City where he was stopped by Mingyang Zhang in the first round.
Though Smith has suffered some bad losses in his time, many felt like ‘Lionheart’ deserves celebrating after he overachieved in his career.
The 59-fight veteran made it all the way to a light heavyweight title shot where he challenged Jon Jones after returning to the UFC in 2016.
One of the aforementioned decisive defeats that the 36-year-old endured took place five years ago where his opponent was apologizing to him during a beatdown.
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Anthony Smith told his corner that his teeth were falling out during his one-sided loss to Glover Teixeira
On May 13 in 2020, Anthony Smith looked to record back-to-back wins to rebound from his loss to Jon Jones at UFC 235.
‘Lionheart’ had already beaten former title challenger Alexander Gustafsson but now it was time for him to take on another opponent that both he and Jones have in common.
Smith was matched up with Glover Teixeira who was in the middle of a late career resurgence after getting his hand raised in his last three outings.
Though the fight was competitive through the first two rounds, it changed in the third where Smith later revealed that an uppercut had caused him to lose vision in his one eye due to a broken orbital bone.
Teixeira continued to rain down punishment and at one point, when he headed back to his corner, the American shockingly told his coaches, “My teeth are falling out.”
The fight was stopped in the fifth round but both Smith’s coaches and the referee Jason Herzog revealed a lot of criticism for not stopping the fight even sooner.
At one point, with an apologetic Teixeira on his back, ‘Lionheart’ handed Herzog one of his teeth that had fallen out with Smith stating after the fight that this was caused by an elbow that landed on his jaw.
He reflected on this moment, and the criticism surrounding the stoppage, in an interview with Ariel Helwani for ESPN MMA shortly after.
“Yeah, I wish I hadn’t done that. It’s the aesthetics of it that just look like, you know? I look down, Glover hit me with just a little pop shot and my mouthpiece kinda jiggled down in the bottom of my teeth and I just looked down and my teeth were right there.
“For whatever reason, I don’t know if I thought I was gonna put it back in or what but I was just like, ‘Oh, there’s my tooth’. I just grabbed it and then I had it in my hand and I didn’t know what to do with it so I just handed it to him.”
Glover Teixeira apologized to Anthony Smith mid-fight and went on to make history
With Anthony Smith taking a lot of punishment on the ground, Glover Teixeira apologized to his opponent during the fight before he went on to get the stoppage win.
Later on in 2020, the Brazilian veteran would submit Thiago Santos to continue his remarkable rise to title contention which led to UFC 267.
Teixeira would cap off this incredible run by beating Jan Blachowicz in September of 2021 to win the light heavyweight title after submitting the champion in the second round.
This win made him the oldest first-time champion in UFC history at 42 years old.