Anthony Smith admits he was initially surprised by opponent for retirement fight until UFC explained why it made sense

Anthony Smith has never handpicked his opponents and that wasn’t going to change for his retirement fight at UFC Kansas City but he was still surprised when the promotion gave him the name.

Zhang Mingyang got the fight with a 2-0 record in the UFC with both matchups ending by first-round knockout but he’s still largely unestablished when it comes to the overall hierarchy of the light heavyweight division. Smith had a similar reaction when he spoke to the UFC matchmakers after they gave him the offer for what he has already promoted as the final fight of his career.

“You know the opponent never matters,” Smith told MMA Fighting. “I had the same conversation with Mick Maynard in Anaheim when I got the name. I was a little bit taken back but not because I care about who it is or I give a shit about a style or whatever. I just didn’t know who he was. I had never even heard his name before. I was like who?

“I looked him up a little bit and I went down to the floor during the event, during one of the breaks between fights, and just said why? Why this guy? He gave me a super thoughtful explanation. I said ‘OK, yeah, whatever.’ If that’s what you want.”

The curious bit of matchmaking somewhat mirrors the fights that former featherweight champion Jose Aldo has received since returning from a brief retirement.

In his return to action after nearly two years away, Aldo took on Jonathan Martinez and then he faced Mario Bautista before getting his latest matchup against Aiemann Zahabi at the upcoming UFC 315 card in Montreal.

While all of those fighters have been part of the UFC roster for a number of years with Martinez and Bautista lingering around the top 15 rankings, the reaction to the fights was still somewhat muted compared to many of Aldo’s biggest fights.

That said, Smith understands the UFC’s thinking when it comes to those fights and it’s really no different than him getting matched up against Zhang at UFC Kansas City.

“Because I work for the UFC, I’m going to get the UFC shill talk all the time or the conversation,” Smith said. “People are going to say ‘you’re sticking up for your bosses.’ I’m not. I’m a critical thinker. You’ve got to think about the economics of these situations. Jose Aldo is paid handsomely, you have to get your return in some way. He’s going to draw anyways. People are going to tune in to watch Jose Aldo fight and how long is he going to be around? Nobody knows. The next one could always be the last one and he could just dip off and you never see him again. So you have to try to get a return on your investment as quickly as possible. How do you do that? You invest in the young guys.

“What they need to do is to continue to build these guys that are going to be here when those guys are gone. It’s the same thing with my opponent. I’m paid really well. You can pay me to fight Paul Craig, who is probably paid decent and if you’re going to watch Paul Craig, you’re going to watch him. You’re not going to all of a sudden watch him because he’s fighting me. There’s no difference. You’re probably already a fan of him if you’re going to watch. If you’re not, you already know you’re not a fan of him because he’s been around long enough. Of course, if you’re going to pay me anyways and I’m leaving, you might as well throw in a young guy and give him an opportunity to grow himself and invest in him. I get it. You don’t have to like it. At the end of the day, this is a business.”

Truth be told, Smith recognizes that he followed a somewhat similar path when he was working his way into title contention after moving to 205 pounds.

Unlike his upcoming opponent, Smith had already been with the UFC for quite some time but he spent his career at middleweight so once he decided to try his hand at light heavyweight, he had to work his way up the ladder. Many of those fights came against former champions and the wins helped Smith’s stock grow in the division.

“There’s some truth to the young eat the old or at least get the opportunity,” Smith said. “I can’t be mad about that because I did the same thing. I’m the guy who took out Hector Lombard and Shogun Rua and Rashad Evans. That’s the path. That’s how the circle of life happens in this sport.

“Love it or hate it, that’s how this goes. I don’t necessarily like it but I sure as f*ck was a beneficiary of it at one point in time.”