The UFC is scheduled to return to Kansas City on April 26th and the card is starting to fill out. Over this past weekend, we learned about a retirement fight that will go down on the card featuring a former light heavyweight title challenger. Anthony “Lionheart” Smith (37-21) will make the walk for the final time against rising contender Zhang Mingyang (18-6). Kangzif on X was the first with the news.
Starting with Zhang, this is a big opportunity for him to add a good name to his resume and jump into the rankings at 205. Zhang started his professional MMA career just 7-6 in 13 fights. However, since that start, he’s won 11 fights in a row and all 11 have been finished in the first round. After earning a contract on Road to UFC, he’s won his first two fights inside the octagon by first round knockout.
UFC Kansas City
Anthony Smith will make the walk for the final time in April. The last time we saw Smith, he made it seem like that was going to be his last one. However, it wasn’t a great fight to go out on. He fought Dominick Reyes at UFC 310 in December and his heart just wasn’t in it.
Smith had just lost his best friend and one of his leading cornermen. He wasn’t in a good headspace and lost by second round TKO. That loss followed a short-notice decision loss to Roman Dolidze. Prior to that, Smith became the first man to defeat Vitor Petrino by submitting him in the first round.
It’s been a wild few years for Lionheart. After a three-fight win streak between 2020 and 2021, Smith was knocking on the door of title contention. However, he’s gone just 2-5 in his last seven fights and now the former UFC title challenger is getting ready to hang things up. He’ll have his hands full with this final fight.