Jake Hecht in a bout at the Mid America Event Center, in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Hecht was a good fighter who would go on to a three-bout run in the UFC.
Smith left the venue that night with a 5-6 record and the assumption that the only way he was getting into a UFC event was with a ticket. The 21-year-old wasn’t deterred from his path, though, never questioning that one day he would make it to the big show.
“I never did, and that’s what crazy,” he said. “I never questioned it because I always knew that I was good enough. There was never a factor of was I good enough or be able to do it. I just needed to hold it together long enough to figure it out. And that’s how I always thought about it. I always knew, deep in my heart, how good I was, and I wasn’t able to figure out why I wasn’t able to put it together, but I also knew that I’ve always been a late bloomer.”
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“There were a lot of people who were like, ‘Hey man, you’re a nice guy. Maybe you’re just not a fighter. Maybe you just don’t have it in you,’” Smith said. “People just didn’t understand. But the one person who always had my back was my mom. I grew up in a small Nebraska town as one of the only mixed kids in the town. I’m half-black and that was tough enough as it is in Nebraska back then, but my mom always had my back. She said if this is what you want to do, then I’ll do anything I can to help you.
“And as I got older, I met my fiancée – we’ve been together almost eight years now – and she was right in the middle of that stuff,” Smith continues.
When Smith met Mikhala, he was about to fight UFC vet Jesse Forbes in late 2010. He lost that bout, putting him now at 8-7 as a pro. But then everything began to turn around. Smith won nine of his next 10 bouts, putting him on the world radar as a member of the Strikeforce roster. But a loss in his final Strikeforce bout against Roger Gracie started a three-fight spiral that saw him only get a cup of coffee in the UFC, where he lost to Antonio Braga Neto in 2013.
Expect another finish this Saturday! #UFCPittsburgh #Lionheart pic.twitter.com/gseUCsRGbM
— Anthony Smith (@lionheartsmith) September 15, 2017
“I ended up getting into the UFC, I went on the three-fight losing streak and we had a baby then,” said Smith, a father of three girls. “And a lot of people probably would have said that it’s time we figure out a real job and figure out what you’re gonna do with your life, but she never did. She’s always supported me. She’s never ever been like, ‘Maybe you should do something else.’ She never doubted me, ever, which is an amazing quality.
Eventually, Smith began to take the potential he showed in the gym into his fights. After his losing streak, he won seven straight, earning a return call to the UFC. He’s now won three of his last four, with two consecutive knockouts and a Performance of the Night bonus to his name. He’s made it, but don’t tell him that.
“I didn’t make it to where I have in my career being happy with what I’ve done so far,” he said. “I try really hard to focus on the task right in front of me, and after each fight I do a little bit of reflecting. I don’t know why it is that I’ve had such a tough road. Things have never clicked the way that they were supposed to, but I do have a little pride in knowing that I made it where I’ve made it and things haven’t even clicked all the way up to this point. I just gotta get a fight where it all comes together at the same time.”
Maybe that fight is this Saturday. If it is, maybe the 29-year-old perfectionist will be satisfied, at least for the rest of the weekend.
“I’m just so sick about thinking about Hector,” he laughs. “He’s the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I think about when I’m laying in bed and 150 times throughout the day. I’m ready to fight.”
