Anthony Smith retired following his loss to Zhang Mingyang at UFC Kansas City, but it appeared he was ready for one more fight afterwards.
With medical personnel tending to a nasty cut on the top of his head that poured blood into his face during the fight, Smith looked visibly angry as he tossed up double middle fingers at somebody sitting cageside. Smith repeatedly flipped off this person in his line of sight and he eventually got up off the canvas and went to the cage where he continued shouting at them.
During the UFC Kansas City post-fight show, Smith explained why he got so agitated that he was ready to delay his retirement to potentially throw a couple more punches on Saturday.
Anthony Smith should have fought this dude in the crowd before retiring #UFCKansasCity
— Delinquent MMA (@DelinquentMMA) April 27, 2025
pic.twitter.com/oyM4cyWMka
“There was a guy in a Nebraska shirt and he was like booing me and flipping me off and kind of talking trash before the fight,” Smith revealed. “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.
“I was so mad. He was wearing a Nebraska shirt! We’re supposed to be family here. It’s not a very big community of people here!”
Smith resides in Omaha, Neb. and has proudly represented his home state throughout his career, so seeing a fan wearing that shirt and simultaneously talking trash rubbed him the wrong way. Add in the emotion of a loss in his retirement fight and Smith admits anger and rage got the better of him in that moment.
In fact, Zhang went to the cage and tried to pull his opponent back from the brink when it looked like Smith was ready to leap over the fence and settle things with the loudmouth fan in the crowd.
“Mingyang is like, ‘Don’t do this brother, you’ve got to quit that,’” Smith said. “Listen, I was emotional. The fight didn’t go the way I wanted it to go. That is what it is. That’s just part of the game.
“I just couldn’t believe that. I pour my heart and soul into this game and 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. You can’t talk trash wearing a Nebraska shirt! Like come on now! That’s all that was.”
As far as Saturday night serving as the final appearance of his fight career, Smith was still trying to wrap his head around everything that happened.
Perhaps the toughest aspect about moving forward into retirement was Smith realizing there was no tomorrow when it comes to fighting, which is a feeling he hasn’t even fathomed in nearly 20 years.
“It’s weird,” Smith said. “Because I’m used to fighting, whether you win or you lose, you go onto whatever’s next. You start rolling through this Rolodex like all right I lost so I’ve got to find this guy, I’ve got to chase this ranking. You win, you’re looking ahead. There is nothing else.
“So I’m refusing to be sad. I shouldn’t be allowed to be sad. It’s been a long journey. I’ve been doing this since I was 17 years old, I’m going to be 37 in a couple of months. I got enough. I built my life around what I was able to do in this sport. It’s afforded me opportunities I was never, ever able to have. I’m forcing myself to be happy that it happened and not sad that it’s over.”
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