UFC President Dana White has rarely asked for a fighter to retire and not seen the concept come to fruition shortly after he’s made the statement.
In December 2024, White said he’d like to see Clay Guida, Chris Weidman, and Anthony Smith retire. Guida was released earlier this month, Weidman announced his retirement during the UFC 311 weigh-ins, and now Smith has said his upcoming fight will be the last of his career.
“Yeah, it’s one more,” Smith said while he was a guest on The Ariel Helwani Show on Tuesday. “Win, lose, or draw, that’s going to be it.”
Smith says he knows the opponent but cannot reveal it until the UFC greenlights the announcement.
“Yeah, [the fight is already made], yeah,” Smith said. “No [the fight hasn’t been announced yet], no. I do [want to announce it], but I can’t—you can’t get fired on your last one!”
Smith did say the final fight would be in April. Here’s a look at Smith on Helwani’s show.
Smith then mentioned he would ask the UFC if he can reveal the information on his own podcast. The 36-year-old is in the midst of a two-fight losing streak and has been dealing with personal tragedy.
In November 2024, Smith’s best friend and coach, Scott Morton, passed away due to a sudden heart attack at the age of 47. Smith was training for his fight against Dominick Reyes when the tragedy occurred.
Despite the loss, Smith went through with the fight but performed listlessly, resulting in a bizarre second-round TKO loss. Afterward, Smith was overcome with emotion, stating he didn’t know if he could continue fighting without Morton.
As it turns out, he won’t fight on for very long.
Smith has had 59 professional MMA bouts, compiling a 38-21 record overall and a 13-11 mark in the UFC. At Smith’s highest point, in 2018, he ran off three straight wins against Rashad Evans, Mauricio Rua, and Volkan Oezdemir to earn a title shot against Jon Jones in March 2019.
Jones won the fight by unanimous decision, and Smith never reached that height again. However, throughout his career, Smith has faced a who’s who of top contenders, champions, and former champions.
In addition to wins over Evans, Rua, and Oezdemir, Smith has also beaten Alexander Gustafsson, Ryan Spann (twice), and he majorly fraud-checked Vitor Petrino in May 2024.
Smith works for the UFC as an analyst, so it seems likely he will take on those duties more full-time after his farewell fight. Since Smith is currently No. 14 in the UFC rankings, his retirement will create an opportunity for a light heavyweight who is currently unranked.
Oumar Sy (who faces Alonzo Menifield on March 22), Zhang Mingyang, Modestas Bukauskas, Rodolfo Bellato, Ibo Aslan, and Ion Cutelaba are all candidates to land in the Top 15 once Smith has retired.
The last two are scheduled to fight on February 22. In any case, Smith has had one of the longer careers in the UFC making himself a staple with the promotion.
