UFC veteran Anthony Smith is nearing the end of his lengthy MMA career. From the sounds of it, he already has some big plans for his life after fighting. For one, he aims to create a feeder league for Dana White’s controversial Power Slap promotion.
Smith has been fighting professional since 2008. He made his UFC debut in 2013, but after a loss to Antonio Braga Neto, was released after just one fight. Three years later, after a seven-fight streak in smaller promotions, he was re-signed by the UFC. He’s been a member of the promotion’s roster ever since, and even competed against Jon Jones for the light heavyweight title in 2019, though he lost by decision.
Smith now sports a 37-21 overall across some 60 MMA fights. He will fight for the final time at UFC Kansas City this coming Saturday, when he takes on rising Chinese contender Zhang Mingyang.
Once he’s retired, it sounds like he’ll be focused on slap fighting.
The biggest slap fighting organization around right now is White’s Power Slap. The UFC CEO insists the sport is immensely popular, but it has failed to find a major broadcast partner, and is widely criticized for the extreme health risk competitors face.
Smith is clearly not one of those criticizing the controversial sport. He intends to get into the business by giving aspiring power-slappers a platform to start their careers. The idea being that they could then graduate to Power Slap.
