He might be “that guy” after all.
Anthony Smith is having his Brendan Schaub moment.
The former UFC light heavyweight title challenger was soundly defeated by Dominick Reyes as part of the UFC 310 mixed martial arts (MMA) event last weekend in Las Vegas, sending “Lionheart” to his second straight defeat and leaving him 2-5 across his last seven.
“I handle things really well,” Smith said on MMA on SiriusXM. “I’m a f*cking gangster, and I just power through it, but this one is tough. I’ve never struggled like this before. When I got to the fight, I knew right away it was f*cked. I knew right away, as soon as I got to the arena. I got impatient. I just wanted something to f*cking happen. I just forced it. Nothing was happening. He wasn’t engaging. I’d seen everything. That was the worst part, too. I was in there, and I was like, ‘Goddamn, you’re not that good.’ And then it hit me like, ‘F*ck, maybe I’m not either.’”
Smith also struggled to make weight for UFC 310, ultimately making his mark after coming in heavy on his first attempt. In addition, the former middleweight struggled on the scale during for his backup role for UFC 283 in early 2023.
“There’s a circumstance that probably exists where I would do one more,” Smith continued. “It would have to be the perfect scenario, timing, opponent, and situation. I know there’s like never the perfect sendoff for the most part. I hadn’t even thought about it before this fight. But having the opportunity to have all the people that supported me, give them the opportunity to come one last time and experience fight week knowing it’s the last time, being able to tell everyone in that process what they meant to me over all these years, like one final flight. Win, lose or draw, who gives a f*ck? But one final sendoff would be cool, I think.”
Smith, who turned 36 last July, has 21 career losses, 12 by way of knockout.