‘Stop this madness’… UFC fans divided after 58-fight veteran’s retirement fight confirmed against KO artist on hot streak

Anthony Smith’s retirement fight set for UFC Fight Night

According to various reports circulating the MMA scene, Anthony Smith is set to face Chinese KO artist Zhang Minghang on the main card of UFC Fight Night 257 in April.

That event is scheduled for April 26 and will be held in Kansas City, Missouri – other notable fights already announced include Michel Pereira vs Abusupiyan Magomedov, Giga Chikadze vs David Onama, and Ikram Aliskerov vs Andre Muniz.

“It makes a lot of sense why they picked that one,” he said prior to Mingyang being named as his opponent, having previously confirmed that this would be Anthony Smith’s final fight in the UFC.

“I think they were more focused on the matchup and the potential of what the fight would look like, and less about names [and] legacy,” he explained.

Smith might have scored a fabulous submission win over Vitor Petrino at UFC 301 but suffered back-to-back losses at the hands of Roman Dolidze and Dominick Reyes in his last two fights.

Standing opposite him in Kansas City will be Chinese KO artist Zhang Mingyang, who isn’t just riding an 11-fight winning streak, but an 11-fight winning streak that also features 11 straight first-round knockouts.

“That fits my personality more. I didn’t really care about how big of a name it is so much, I cared about what type of fight I was going to have for my last one. And I’m pretty excited about this.”

UFC fans divided by Anthony Smith’s final fight being against ‘Mountain Tiger’

Anthony ‘Lionheart’ Smith remains one of the most beloved fighters on the UFC roster, which is why so many fans are concerned about his final bout coming against such a dangerous KO artist.

On the one hand, you have plenty of fans speculating that this could be a rather depressing retirement fight for Smith – especially considering he was brutally knocked out in his last bout against Reyes.

Mingyang is 18-6 as a professional MMA fighter and 2-0 under the UFC banner; those both being first-round knockouts over Brendson Ribeiro and Ozzy Diaz.

That being said, there are also plenty of comments that argue Smith halting a hype train like Mingyang would be the perfect send-off – if he can turn back the clock to his title-run days.

Can Anthony Smith bow out with another enormous win? Find out on April 26.