Anthony Smith understands UFC’s “business decision” for his final opponent: “They’re trying to catch us on our way out”

UFC light heavyweight Anthony Smith understands that he has to fight a young up-and-comer in his retirement fight.

Smith will retire at UFC Kansas City when he takes on Mingyang Zhang. Zhang is 2-0 in the UFC but has looked impressive in his two fights. For Smith’s retirement fight, it’s no layup fight or a big-name opponent, which ‘Lionheart’ understands. Smith knows the UFC is about getting the young guys over, which is what he thinks the UFC wants to happen here.

“It’s a business decision, which I understand. But I think you can be honest with me and not hurt my feelings,” Smith said to Ariel Helwani. “[Zhang is] a really tough up-and-comer, but I think they’re unsure of where he really is in terms of his skill set and how good he actually is. He’s hard to match up because guys that are in his similar position, those guys, all these young guys, [they say] they’ll fight anybody. They’re full of s***. They want the older, aging veterans. They’re trying to catch us on our way out. They don’t want to fight each other that bad because they’re unsure of the same thing, they don’t know how good they actually are.

Anthony Smith is excited to face Mingyang Zhang

“So I think the UFC is unsure of how good Zhang actually is in terms of — does he have a high ceiling? I think so. How good is he right now? I don’t know. We’ll see in the second round,” Smith continued. “I think that’s some of it. You have to put someone pretty tough in front of him because you won’t really find out what his level is — and what kind of fighter he is, and who he is as a person — until you can get someone to push him past where he’s comfortable. He just puts his foot on the gas and goes hard as f*** for five minutes, and so far, hasn’t made it out the first round.”

Although Anthony Smith knows this is a tough fight against Mingyang Zhang at UFC Kansas City, he is eager for the matchup. Smith is confident he will get his hand raised and end his career with a big win.

Smith is 37-21 as a pro and coming off back-to-back losses. In his last fight, he suffered a second-round knockout loss to Dominick Reyes.