Anthony Smith may have stepped away from MMA after his loss to Zhang Mingyang at UFC Kansas City, but it almost wasn’t his final fight of the night.
Moments after suffering a TKO defeat — and while medical staff tended to a nasty cut on his head — Smith was seen furiously flipping off a spectator cageside.
Blood streaming into his face, Smith repeatedly gestured at the fan before getting off the canvas and walking toward the cage, shouting at the heckler.
Speaking during the UFC Kansas City post-fight show, Smith revealed the man had been taunting him even before the bout began — and that betrayal hit harder given the fan was wearing a Nebraska shirt, representing Smith’s proud home state.
“There was a guy in a Nebraska shirt booing me, flipping me off, and talking trash,” Smith said.
“I was really focused before the fight, but afterwards, hearing him and his friend cheering and still flipping me off, it just made me so mad.”
Smith, who resides in Omaha and has long represented Nebraska, said the fan’s actions cut deeper than usual, adding, “You can’t talk trash wearing a Nebraska shirt. Come on now!”
Emotions boiled over in the aftermath, and it even took his opponent, Zhang Mingyang, stepping in to calm him down.
“Mingyang is like, ‘Don’t do this brother, you’ve got to quit that,’” Smith recalled. “The fight didn’t go how I wanted. I poured my heart and soul into this, and seeing that guy just set me off.”
Smith admitted retirement is still sinking in, especially after spending nearly 20 years in professional fighting.
“It’s weird,” he said. “You’re always chasing the next thing — a win, a ranking. Now, there’s nothing else. I’m forcing myself to be happy it happened, not sad that it’s over.”
Smith closes the book on a long, passionate MMA career — one final night full of heart, fire, and a little bit of defiance.
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