Anthony Smith hits back at retirement talk after loss to Johnny Walker: “Not going out like that”

UFC light-heavyweight contender Anthony Smith isn’t going anywhere.

‘Lionheart’ returned to the octagon over the weekend against Johnny Walker at UFC Charlotte. There, Smith suffered his second straight loss by unanimous decision. The former title challenger had previously lost by second-round knockout to Magomed Ankalaev last July at UFC 277.

Following the defeat, the light-heavyweight contender took off his gloves in the center of the cage. However, the broadcast didn’t head to Smith for a post-fight interview, nor did he head to the post-fight press conference. As a result, some fans believed that Saturday night’s fight might’ve been the last of his career.

RELATED: ANTHONY SMITH ADMITS HE HAS A “GLARING HOLE” IN HIS GAME FOLLOWING JOHNNY WALKER LOSS

However, that isn’t the case. Anthony Smith discussed retiring on his SiriusXM radio show, where he revealed that wasn’t on his mind at all. The former title challenger stated that he took off the gloves just due to his hand wraps being tight, that’s all.

The light-heavyweight contender added that he won’t be retiring any time soon. Smith stated that he would have to either be pulled out of the cage to retire, or he’ll do it so quietly that fans don’t realize it even happened.

“Yeah [I took off my gloves because] my hand wraps were really tight,” Anthony Smith stated on his SiriusXM radio show earlier this week. “No [thought about retirement], no. Come on man, I’m not going out like that. If I ever retire, it’ll be in one of two ways.”

He continued, “I’ll fade into obscurity and guys will be like ‘Damn, I haven’t seen Anthony in a while!’. Or, it will be me getting drug out of there kicking and screaming.”

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