Who is Anthony ‘Lionheart’ Smith? We take a deep dive into the fighter, the analyst and the man ahead of UFC Singapore.
Anthony Smith returns to the octagon this weekend at UFC Singapore in the co-main event against former foe Ryan ‘Superman’ Spann. Smith will look to get back to winning ways following a difficult period in his UFC tenure. In July 2022, Smith suffered a second round TKO defeat at the hands of Magomed Ankalaev in which he suffered a broken ankle. This caused him to take a prolonged absence from the sport.
Upon his return to the octagon, ‘Lionheart’ fell short in what was a relatively one-sided encounter against Johnny Walker. The defeat saw Smith drop to number eight in the rankings and put any chance of a shot at the gold onto the back burner.
Anthony Smith – The Analyst
Fighters, as a whole, solely focus on their fighting career. Which makes sense right? The problem with this comes when it is time to hang up the gloves. Fighters generally become fighters because it is the only thing they know. However, time remains undefeated and eventually, all fighters need to step away from the sport.
The upper echelons, your champions and biggest stars, step away with money in the bank and are able to rest on their laurels. The rest are unable to do so. They need to seek out other avenues, not only for income but to keep the mind stimulated.
Anthony Smith has taken steps to ensure that he has something to fall back on when his fighting career comes to an end. He is the co-host of Michael Bisping’s ‘Believe You Me‘ podcast. He also works the desk for the UFC, giving his analytical views on the upcoming fights as well as featuring on the post-shows and reviewing the fights.
MMA Social Media Trolls
The internet is a strange, strange place and to quote the great Mike Tyson, “Social media made y’all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it”.
Anthony Smith, like so many of these athletes who give their all for our entertainment has received some criticism. Whether it be for his performances in the octagon or his analysis… in his role as an ‘analyst’. If you aren’t a fan of the fighter, you don’t need to watch. If you don’t like their opinion, you don’t need to listen.
True MMA fans understand that this sport is cruel. You can be the greatest fighter that ever lived and get knocked out cold with one mistake. What the online trolls need to realise, is that we should be grateful to these athletes for what they put themselves through for our entertainment.
It takes a special kind of character to become a professional fighter. If it was easy, we’d all be doing it. So, for any social media trolls that give abuse to fighters online for their opinions, or their performances, ask yourself, could you do what they do? More importantly, would you say that to the them if they were in the same room? If not, do not hit send.
Intruder Alert
It has been well documented that the Smith family had an extremely traumatic 2020. In the early hours of Sunday 5th April 2020, Anthony and his family were asleep in bed. He was woken by his terrified wife, who told him that there was a man in their house.
Smith said that he could hear a man’s voice “screaming at the top of his lungs”. His wife grabbed their daughters and pulled them all into a bedroom, where they remained hidden. Anthony went to look for the intruder and saw a man. Standing in the dark. In the middle of the night. In his house, with his wife and children.
Anthony has said in previous interviews that he was terrified that the man had a weapon and instinctively tried to wrestle the man to the floor. ‘Lionheart’ said that the man fought like “no normal human” and that the intruder took “Every punch, every knee, every elbow. He took every single one of them and kept fighting me.”
Smith stated that he had been fighting the man for a number of minutes before his mother-in-law handed him a knife from the kitchen. Anthony held the knife to the intruder but that the man kept fighting him.
The police eventually arrived. They were able to subdue the man. Smith said there was blood all over the computer room and that the intruder was cut and had swelling on his face.
Anthony Smith was at the time, training for his fight with Glover Teixeira and decided to proceed with his fight as planned.
Quotes are to be credited to ESPN.
Anthony Smith – The Man
‘Lionheart’ has a pride of his very own. He is a proud husband and loving father to his wife Mikhala and his four daughters.
Smith, understandably, for all the reasons above, likes to keep his private life, private. He does however speak freely and openly about his love for his family on the ‘Believe You Me‘ podcast. The podcast is a great outlet, where Anthony’s true personality shines through. He is a lover, and he is a fighter.
In May 2022, Anthony’s mother Dixie, sadly passed away. Just twelve weeks before his loss to Magomed Akalaev. Anthony was raised by his mother and his grandfather. He has spoken openly about how his father was an alcoholic and a drug addict who was absent from his childhood.
When the stats are laid out in front of us, it is clear to see that Anthony Smith is not experiencing the best run of luck. Smith was on a three fight winning streak, all by stoppages until his mother passed away in May of 2022. Since sadly losing his mother, Smith has lost to Magomed Ankalaev. Broken his ankle. Returned from the injury. And finally, lost to Johnny Walker.
That series of events would test anyone’s strength of character. It is a credit to Anthony for pushing on regardless and trying to turn his fortunes around.
Anthony Smith – The Fighter
Anthony Smith’s road to the UFC was anything but sunshine and rainbows. He fought in numerous different organisations, most notably, Strikeforce and Victory FC. One thing that was guaranteed with Smith, was that the fight would finish inside the distance. Despite wins and losses along the way, Smith didn’t actually go to a points decision until his 31st fight.
Smith was given an opportunity to fight in the UFC in 2013. Unfortunately, he lost against Antonio Braga Neto via Kneebar and was subsequently released.
Following his release, Smith lost his next fight, again by submission. He then found some form, going on a seven fight win streak which saw him re-signed to the UFC.
Smith has now had 18 fights in the UFC, with eleven wins and seven defeats. He has standout wins against the likes of; Hector Lombard, Rashad Evans, Shogun Rua, Volkan Oezdemir and Alexander Gustafsson. Smith has lost to top contenders; Aleksandar Rakic, Magomed Ankalaev and Johnny Walker. He also fell short against former title challenger Thiago Santos, and former light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira.
Smith challenged for UFC light heavyweight gold when he faced off against one of the greatest of all time in Jon ‘Bones’ Jones. Jones won the bout via unanimous decision, despite being deducted two points for landing an illegal knee. Smith may have lost the fight but he certainly won the respect of the fans that night for choosing to continue after the illegal knee had landed.
As his record suggests, Anthony Smith is a veteran of mixed martial arts and he heads into his 55th professional bout at UFC Singapore this weekend.
‘Lionheart’ Vs ‘Superman’ – Take Two
Smith returns to familiar ground this weekend and no, I don’t mean Singapore. ‘Lionheart’ will step into the octagon once more with former foe Ryan ‘Superman’ Spann. Last time out, it was Smith who had his hand raised. The pair had exchanged words in the build-up to the fight. Smith claimed that Spann had discredited his resume and he had taken personally. ‘Lionheart’ insisted that he was going to make Spann respect him and that if he wasn’t going to give it willingly then he would have to take it from him.
The fiery build up certainly continued into the fight. The pair wasted no time in exchanging heavy blows, but it was Smith who dropped Spann on two separate occasions, before following him to the matt and picking up a submission win via rear-naked choke.
After the bell bout had been waved off, Smith continued to stand over Spann whilst shouting “Where’s my respect? I want my respect”. Octagon-side security rushed to the cage to separate the two. Once the heat of the moment had settled, the pair embraced and put their beef to bed. However, as fight week media sparks up and the weight cutting begins, don’t be surprised to see the animosity between these two spill over once more.
This one is definitely a crossroads fight for both men. Smith comes into the fight off back-to-back defeats and Spann comes in after being submitted last time out against Nikita Krylov.
A “Lose-Lose” Situation
Speaking to Michael Bisping on the ‘Believe You Me‘ podcast, Smith claimed that his upcoming fight with Spann was actually a “Lose-lose” position for him to be in. Smith stated that even if he were to win the fight, he doubted that he could win it in a more devastating fashion than his first fight with Spann. ‘Lionheart’ also claimed that he wouldn’t receive any recognition for the win as Spann was an opponent he had already beaten. Smith cited staying active, as his reason for taking the rematch with Spann and will be just over a three month turn around from his defeat last time out to Johnny Walker.
You can read our article on Ryan Spann here.
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Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
