Anthony Smith has spoken out for the first time since UFC 310.
‘Lionheart’ suggested he will most likely retire after suffering a second-round TKO defeat against fellow light heavyweight title contender Dominick Reyes in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
The 38-21 MMA veteran broke down in tears while discussing his fighting future after the recent death of his long-time coach, Scott Morton.
Anthony Smith has been silent ever since, but now the 36-year-old has opened up about his recent loss and how he feels about potentially retiring after taking a few days to decompress.
Anthony Smith’s combat sports career remains in limbo after UFC 310.
The popular analyst admits he’s dreaming of an ideal scenario presenting itself, allowing him to return to the Octagon for a proper retirement fight.
It remains to be seen if that will come to fruition or if we’ve seen the last of him in MMA.
“There’s a circumstance that probably exists where I would do one more,” Smith told Sirius XM.
“I think that’s probably the answer. It would have to be the perfect scenario, timing, opponent, and situation. I know it doesn’t exist for 99.9 percent of fighters, but going out on my own terms."
“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, and I don’t know like one final fight. Win, lose or draw, who gives a f***? One final sendoff would be cool, I think."
“I wanna put myself in a position knowing this is it. This is the last chance you have to get it right. To put in whatever performance you’ve been craving, you get one more shot at it."
“I don’t know. It would be nice knowing this is it. I’ve only got to do this one more time."
“No [it’s not a retirement]. It’s not necessarily not a retirement. It’s no more than one, though.”
Anthony Smith shares a podcast with former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping.
Understandably, Smith was missing from the latest episode as he focused on recovering from his loss.
The UFC Hall of Famer explained why he doesn’t think his friend will or should retire from MMA.
“I don’t think he should’ve taken that fight, at all,” Bisping said.
“But I don’t think he will retire. I think when he watches that back, he’s going to be embarrassed when he watches it, and it’ll inspire him to come back. The world doesn’t deserve to remember him like that…"
“Maybe it was therapeutic in some ways, but I’d like to see him fight again…this isn’t a sport that you play, and that’s why Dana White says Chris Weidman and Clay Guida need to retire. That s*** will stay with you."
“If he fights, I’m going to give him a call and say, ‘If you do this, do it for the right reasons. Train as if you’re training for a world title fight, as if you’re going against Jon Jones’. Leave no stone unturned, otherwise if you’re not willing to do that, then don’t even think about it in the first place!”
