“I’ve never done life as an adult without him.” After Anthony Smith lost his dear friend and coach Scott Morton, he lost all hope and desire to stay a fighter in the UFC. And that pushed him for retirement following a defeat against Dominick Reyes at UFC 310. The heartbroken fighter laid down his gloves with a heavy heart indeed. However, the world of mixed martial arts seemed to have a sliver of hope for ‘Lionheart’s return. But was it in vain?

During a conversation with Damon Martin on 12 March 2025, the famed MMA reporter asked if his retirement was actually final. Well, with him set for his seemingly final fight on April 26, 2025, the MMA realm was a bit confused. Smith answered, “It’s final. It’s really just because it’s not about fighting itself. It’s about everything that surrounds it that I’m just not as willing to do anymore. My kids deserve it. My children deserve not to have this thing all the time and just not have me constantly waiting on the next big thing. Really just checking into them. You have to structure your life a certain way when you live this life and I’m ready to just not do that anymore and ready to just to be as close to a normal human as I possibly can.”

Well, ‘Lionheart’ didn’t put away the special scenarios like Chael Sonnen vs. Anderson Silva boxing bout out of the box. He claimed that he would be willing to do something like that. But fighting full-time? It wasn’t his cup of tea anymore. Smith concluded, “But in terms of fighting for a living, and this being my full-time gig, not anymore. No, I’m done.” He claimed that things were really different now that he was retired. His day-to-day life was different. Smith simply wouldn’t return for something that doesn’t feel natural now, would he?

Anthony Smith was truly emotional when he faced Reyes back at UFC 310. And Reyes didn’t miss that. He knew how dangerous an emotional fighter was, and claimed that he was obliged to give him his all. And that’s exactly what he did. But did Smith regret his decision to retire following a loss against Reyes?

Anthony Smith needed the fight against Dominick Reyes

As the conversation with Martin continued, Smith revealed, “I think I needed that for my own healing. I needed to walk that path, walk that road and just get by it. Whether I fought then or a year later, it was going to be the same. No, I don’t regret it. I felt way better the next day. Not great, there’s no real healing of getting past it but I carried it better the next day. Maybe I’m a f—ing psychopath, but I carry it better since I got out of that octagon. Whatever I needed to exercise or whatever, I needed to get out or beat out of me, it worked to some degree.”

Of course, the toll of Morton’s passing was a bit too great for Smith. ‘Lionheart’ had trained with him ever since he was 17 years old. Not a day passed by when the two didn’t roll out in the gym. Smith simply didn’t want to go on without his coach anymore. The training camp for UFC 310 was nothing short of a distraction, but that’s not what he needed to heal. 

Well, Morton wanted Smith to retire following his battle against Khalil Rountree Jr. in 2023. But Smith made him agree to a fight against Reyes. And now, with a final battle against Mingyang Zhang on April 26, Smith will say farewell to the MMA cage. At least, we can all hope for the light heavyweight to go out in style, with a win in his professional MMA record, right?

What are your thoughts on Smith’s retirement? Do you think he did the right thing by taking up one last fight? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.