Anthony Smith knew he was in no condition to fight at UFC 310 following the recent death of his coach, but he powered through anyway.
[autotag]Anthony Smith[/autotag] knew he was in no condition to fight at UFC 310, but he powered through anyway.
Smith (38-21 MMA, 13-11 UFC) couldn’t hold back tears during the walkout for his fight against Dominick Reyes this past Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “Lionheart” suffered a second-round TKO loss to Reyes and was visibly emotional after recently losing his longtime friend and coach, Scott Morton.
“I handle things really well,” Smith said on MMA on SiriusXM. “I’m a f*cking gangster, and I just power through it, but this one is tough. I’ve never struggled like this before. When I got to the fight, I knew right away it was f*cked. I knew right away, as soon as I got to the arena.”
“I got impatient,” Smith said. “I just wanted something to f*cking happen. I just forced it. I just got impatient. Nothing was happening. He wasn’t engaging. I’d seen everything. That was the worst part, too. I was in there, and I was like, ‘Goddamn, you’re not that good.’ And then it hit me like, ‘F*ck, maybe I’m not either.’
“Maybe I’m not either anymore. The left hand wasn’t nearly as fast as I expected it to be. I think I over-predicted how good he was going to be on his feet. He landed a shot here or there, and then at some point where I was like, ‘F*cking hit me or something. I need to f*cking feel something. Give me something here.'”
One more time?
Smith’s good friend and “Believe You Me” podcast co-host, Michael Bisping said he’d like to see him fight one more time. Smith agrees that this isn’t the way he’d like to walk away from the sport.
“There’s a circumstance that probably exists where I would do one more,” Smith said. “I think that’s probably the answer. It would have to be the perfect scenario, timing, opponent, and situation. … I know there’s like never the perfect sendoff for the most part. I hadn’t even thought about it before this fight.
“But having the opportunity to have all the people that supported me, give them the opportunity to come one last time and experience fight week knowing it’s the last time, being able to tell everyone in that process what they meant to me over all these years, like one final flight. Win, lose or draw, who gives a f*ck? But one final sendoff would be cool, I think.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 310.
Michael Bisping believes Anthony Smith will want to come back after watching his UFC 310 performance.
[autotag]Michael Bisping[/autotag] doesn’t think we’ve seen the last of [autotag]Anthony Smith[/autotag] after UFC 310.
Smith suffered a second-round TKO to Dominick Reyes on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena – his fifth loss in his past seven fights. “Lionheart” couldn’t contain his emotions while walking out to his fight after recently losing his longtime friend and coach, Scott Morton.
Reyes revealed that Smith dropped his hands and asked to be punched during the fight. A visibly distraught Smith addressed the fans after the loss and admitted he’s unsure how many times he could compete without his coach by his side. While he didn’t commit to retirement, he said it would “probably” be his last fight.
Bisping believes Smith (38-21 MMA, 13-11 UFC) won’t want this to be his lasting memory in the octagon.
“I don’t think he should’ve taken that fight at all,” Bisping said of Smith on his “Believe You Me” podcast. “I understand his reasoning for that. Maybe to give him something to train for, a way to honor the memory of (Scott) or whatever the case may be, but people won’t remember that when they look back. I feel for Anthony. … He gets paid very handsomely, so obviously there’s that.
“I don’t think he will retire. I think when he watches that back, he’s going to be embarrassed when he watches that, and that’s going to fuel him to want to come back and want to fight again. I’d like to see him fight again because I don’t believe that the world deserves to remember him like that. That wasn’t Anthony at his best.”
Bisping’s message to Smith
If Smith does decide to continue fighting, Bisping urges him to take the fight prep seriously.
“This isn’t a sport that you play, and that’s why people say he needs to retire,” Bisping said. “That’s why Dana (White) says Chris Weidman and Clay Guida need to retire because the more times you step in there and certainly when you get older, and you start getting a bit more frail, and you don’t recover quite, as well. That sh*t will stay with you.
“If he fights, I’m going to give him a call and just say, ‘If you do this, do it for the right reasons. Train as if you’re training for a world title fight, as if you’re going up against Jon Jones.’ You’ve got to leave no stone unturned, otherwise if you’re not willing to do that, then don’t even think about it in the first place.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 310.
Dominick Reyes could feel Anthony Smith’s emotions while in the cage with him at UFC 310.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Dominick Reyes[/autotag] could feel [autotag]Anthony Smith[/autotag]’s emotions during their UFC 310 fight.
Reyes (14-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) picked up his second consecutive win when he scored a second-round TKO of Smith (38-21 MMA, 13-11 UFC) in their light heavyweight bout Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.
Smith came into UFC 310 with a heavy heart after recently losing his longtime friend and coach, Scott Morton. “Lionheart” couldn’t hold back his tears during his walkout and took quite a bit of punishment courtesy of Reyes’ ground-and-pound before the referee waved off the fight.
“Anthony is a true warrior, and he’s going to fight to the end. He wanted to fight to the end,” Reyes told MMA Junkie and other reporters. “He needed to feel something tonight, whatever he’s going through, but he kept moving. The ref said, ‘Come on Anthony,’ and he would move.”
Prior to the fight, Smith said he didn’t care about winning and that he planned on using the fight as an outlet to grieve. Reyes recalls Smith asking him to punch him during the fight so he could feel something.
“So, when I went in the cage – I haven’t been around Anthony much in my life, but when I was in the cage with him, he was emotional, right? That’s a dangerous man,” Reyes said. “Like he said it. He’s fighting for his friend, and he doesn’t care about the outcome. He just wants to feel something.
“There was a point in the first round when he put his hands down and was just like, ‘Punch me in the face.’ And I obliged. That’s my job. My job is to finish you and get you out of there whether you’re going through something or not. If you’re going to give me free shots or not, I’m going to hit you. We’re professional fighters. It’s a very dangerous game, you know. God bless Anthony.”
Reyes sympathizes with Smith but knew he had a job to do – especially after going through hardships of his own to put together his first winning streak since 2019.
“Losing someone is never easy,” Reyes continued. “I’ve lost some really close people to me this year as well and it’s terrible. I’m glad he got to come out and be the warrior that he is, this is his outlet. Like Cormier said, it’s my job to not care.
“My job is to win. My job is to go out there and give my best performance, and that’s all I was focused on. So, whatever you’re going through, when the door closes, it’s war time.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 310.
The UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance program has now paid out more than $8 million to athletes in 2024 under the Venum deal.
LAS VEGAS – Fighters from Saturday’s UFC 310 event took home UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance pay totaling $368,500.
The program, a comprehensive plan that includes outfitting requirements, media obligations and other items under the fighter code of conduct, replaces the previous payments made under the UFC Athlete Outfitting Policy.
UFC 310 took place at T-Mobile Arena. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN2 and ESPN+.
The full UFC 310 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts included:
Under the UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance program’s payout tiers, which appropriate the money generated by Venum’s multi-year sponsorship with the UFC, fighters are paid based on their total number of UFC bouts, as well as Zuffa-era WEC fights (January 2007 and later) and Zuffa-era Strikeforce bouts (April 2011 and later). Fighters with 1-3 bouts receive $4,000 per appearance; 4-5 bouts get $4,500; 6-10 bouts get $6,000; 11-15 bouts earn $11,000; 16-20 bouts pocket $16,000; and 21 bouts and more get $21,000. Additionally, champions earn $42,000 while title challengers get $32,000.
In addition to experience-based pay, UFC fighters will receive in perpetuity royalty payments amounting to 20-30 percent of any UFC merchandise sold that bears their likeness, according to officials.
Full 2024 UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payouts:
Dominick Reyes picked up a dominant TKO win over Anthony Smith, who admitted he was overcome with emotions at UFC 310.
[autotag]Dominick Reyes[/autotag] picked up his second stoppage of the year by stopping an emotional Anthony Smith at UFC 310.
The light heavyweight contest served as the featured prelim of the event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Reyes (14-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) capped off a fantastic performance with a TKO stoppage at 4:46 of Round 2.
Emotions were on full display for Smith (38-21 MMA, 13-11 UFC) moments before the fight began. As Reyes walked out, Smith shed tears while waiting inside the cage, due to thoughts of the death of his close friend and coach Scott Morton.
Smith worked through the moment, and the fight began. Reyes and Smith traded solid punches and worked through clinch positions in an active opening start. After an accidental eye poke to Reyes, the fight resumed with Reyes building momentum.
Hard punches connected for Reyes, appearing to stun Smith at one moment. Smith answered with a few strikes, but then, he just dropped his hands and let Reyes score a series of flush punches down the middle.
Smith started Round 2 with forward pressure, looking for a single leg takedown. He got stuck in the position, and ate a series of hard short punches while still holding onto Reyes’ leg. Eventually, Smith dropped to the canvas and Reyes poured on the strikes from the top.
Reyes continued to unload punches on a turtled Smith as referee Marc Goddard warned Smith to move. More strikes connected with no improvement from Smith, and Goddard decided to call the fight.
While Reyes celebrated, Smith began to remove his gloves.
Smith was given a chance to speak on the microphone, where he said he was unsure how many times he could compete without his coach by his side. “Lionheart” admitted he was unable to control his emotions when he made the walk, and it carried over into the fight.
Smith didn’t commit to retirement, but said it would “probably” be his last fight.
Light heavyweight contenders Smith (38-20 MMA, 13-10 UFC) and Hill became training partners after a scheduled bout between them in March 2023 fell through. “Lionheart” returns in Saturday’s UFC 310 featured prelim (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN2, Hulu, ESPN+) when he takes on Dominick Reyes (13-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Hill (12-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC), who runs his own YouTube channel, has never backed down from responding to critique whether from fighters, fans, or analysts. Having formed a close bond with Hill, Smith says the former UFC champion is just often misunderstood.
“I see a lot of myself in him when I was younger,” Smith told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s UFC 310 media day. “I’d seen his talent, and he’s a good dude. The guys that are in my gym that are close to me that are like my brothers, of course, I’ll do anything I can for those guys. But I’m not out searching for guys to take under my wing to help. I’m going to help the people that are close to me that I have love for, but I’m not out trying to be a mentor.
“I just wish that people (had) seen the side of Jamahal that we see every day – the delusional Jamahal jokes. He’s passionate about his craft and he really cares. I’m media-trained, so I know how to get a point to land on the audience that I’m trying to reach, and he’s unconcerned with that. He just speaks from his heart. I think that he knows he could have performed better in his fight, so it comes off as excuse-making, but it’s just him speaking from his perspective. But that’s not the guy that we see every day. … He’s just a regular dude, and he’s a good dude.”
Hill will look to rebound from his knockout loss to light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira when he takes on Jiri Prochazka Jan. 18 at UFC 311. Having trained with Hill, Smith sees him taking out Prochazka.
“Jiri is such a pain in the ass. He’s just such a unique style and fights so free,” Smith said. “But anybody that’s as hittable as Jiri standing in front of Jamahal is going to have a bad night. That’s not jst because Jamahal’s my friend. The power that that guy carries is different. His ability to find shots is different, and you’re not going to have to work too hard to find Jiri’s head.”
A former “TUF” winner looked rough on the UFC 310 scales as he missed weight big.
LAS VEGAS – A former “TUF” winner has missed weight ahead of UFC 310.
[autotag]Bryan Battle[/autotag] registered at 175 pounds, four pounds over the welterweight limit. Visibly drained, he did not attempt a second time. The status of his prelim bout vs. Randy Brown is unclear at this time.
Former UFC light heavyweight title challenger [autotag]Anthony Smith[/autotag] initially missed weight at 207.5. However, he dropped two pounds and re-weighed-in at 205.5, under the light heavyweight limit.
The early weigh-ins took place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and preceded the ceremonial weigh-ins for the fans, which take place at 7 p.m. ET at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. UFC 310 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) takes place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.
Among those who weighed in were flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja (28-5 MMA, 12-3 UFC) and challenger Kai Asakura (21-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC), who meet in the main event, and Ian Machado Garry (18-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) and Shavkat Rakhmonov (15-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC), who fight in a welterweight title eliminator in the co-feature.
All four of those combatants, plus the rest of the card outside of Battle, made weight. It’s Battle’s second UFC miss. He also missed weight for a May 2023 bout vs. Gabe Green.
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The full UFC 310 weigh-in results included:
MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
Champ Alexandre Pantoja (124.5) vs. Kai Asakura (124.5) – for flyweight title
Ian Machado Garry (171) vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov (171)
Ciryl Gane (245.5) vs. Alexander Volkov (254.5)
Kron Gracie (144.5) vs. Bryce Mitchell (146)
Dooho Choi (146) vs. Nate Landwehr (145.5)
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN2, 8 p.m. ET)
Dominick Reyes (205) vs. Anthony Smith (205.5)
Themba Gorimbo (171) vs. Vicente Luque (170.5)
Movsar Evloev (145.5) vs. Aljamain Sterling (145.5)
Bryan Battle (175)* vs. Randy Brown (171)
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 6 p.m. ET)
Eryk Anders (193) vs. Chris Weidman (194.5)
Cody Durden (126) vs. Joshua Van (126)
Michael Chiesa (170.5) vs. Max Griffin (170)
Clay Guida (155) vs. Chase Hooper (155.5)
Lukasz Brzeski (234) vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu (236.5)
*Battle missed the welterweight limit by 4 pounds and will be fined a percentage of his purse.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 310.
Anthony Smith is fighting for a different and very personal reason when he steps into the octagon with Dominick Reyes at UFC 310.
LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Anthony Smith[/autotag] is fighting for a different and very personal reason when he steps into the octagon with Dominick Reyes at UFC 310.
In a matchup of former light heavyweight title challengers, Smith (37-20 MMA, 13-10 UFC) is set to take on Reyes (13-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC) on Saturday’s card at T-Mobile Arena (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN2, Hulu, ESPN+) in what is an important fight in the overall landscape in the careers of both participants.
All of that is moot to Smith, however, because just three weeks ago, he went through a personal tragedy. His longtime friend and coach Scott Morton suddenly died, and “Lionheart” is reeling from the fallout.
“I need to destroy something,” Smith told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s UFC 310 media day. “That’s why I’m here. It might be myself. Maybe I run into a f*cking buzzsaw and leave not the same way I came here, and I’m good with that, too. I went to fight Alexander Gustafsson right after I fought Jon Jones, and I didn’t go there to win, either. I wanted to punch someone in the face because I felt so sh*tty about losing the title fight.
“Saturday, I want to f*cking break something, and this is my outlet. I can’t do what I really want to do inside, anywhere else, with no consequences. That’s why I’m here. I don’t give a f*ck about winning. At all. Not even a little bit. I haven’t even f*cking thought about it. I want to f*cking break something, and here’s where I get to do that.”
Smith has been through many trying moments in his personal and competitive life. Despite another one being thrown his way, he pushed forward and showed up to UFC 310 fight week.
He hinted that he didn’t do that so he could honor Morton’s memory, though. That’s not enough in his mind to do justice for the relationship they had.
“Not at all (fighting in his memory),” Smith said. “The smallest thing that Scott was to me is a coach. He was like my mentor and my big brother and I’ve never lived as an adult without Scott guiding me through life. So this fighting sh*t is really fake at the end of the day. This a big f*cking dog-and-pony show. I don’t give a sh*t about any of that. But getting a win and having the opportunity to tell the world about him afterwards, stand there with Joe Rogan, means a lot. That will be cool for me. But in terms of anything else, it doesn’t matter.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 310.
Michael Chandler knows what he has to do to beat Charles Oliveira at UFC 309, but the “devil on the other shoulder” simply won’t allow it.
[autotag]Anthony Smith[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Michael Chandler[/autotag] won’t be able to control himself against [autotag]Charles Oliveira[/autotag] at UFC 309.
Chandler (23-8 MMA, 2-3 UFC) rematches Oliveira (34-10 MMA, 22-10 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 309 (pay-per-view, ESPNews/Hulu/FX, ESPN+) co-main event at Madison Square Garden in New York. Chandler will look to avenge his 2021 loss to Oliveira, in which he was able to badly hurt the Brazilian in Round 1 but was knocked out just 19 seconds into Round 2. Speaking on the “Believe You Me” podcast with Michael Bisping, Smith said Chandler’s tendency to brawl and entertain is who he is as a fighter.
“Not a chance,” Smith said of Chandler fighting smarter. “I think he’ll think he’s going to do that. When he fought Dustin Poirier, I was right behind Joe Rogan, and I was like, ‘This is going to be an amazing fight. He’s going to fight smart.’ He tried. I was close enough where I could see him, I could hear his coaches, I could hear the corner work through the broadcast.
“Listening to the things with Din (Thomas), and you can see he was having this internal battle where he knows that he was just really successful with the wrestling, but this devil on the other shoulder is like, ‘Just go for broke,’ and he can’t help it. I used to think he was trying to be exciting, and he’s not. It’s just who he is in here (his heart), and he can’t help it.”
Since coming over from Bellator, Chandler’s approach has resulted in four bonuses in five UFC appearances. His all-out war with Justin Gaethje at UFC 268 earned him Fight of the Year for 2021.
Here’s what you need to know to watch UFC 309 on pay-per-view, ESPNews, Hulu, FX and ESPN+.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
The UFC’s 13th and penultimate pay-per-view event of 2024 goes down Saturday in the “Big Apple.”
Here’s how to watch UFC 309 with the heavyweight title on the line at the top of the card at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Broadcast and streaming info
Jon Anik
UFC 309 has a main card that begins at 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT) on pay-per-view (via ESPN+). The four-fight preliminary card airs on ESPNews, FX and Hulu at 8 p.m. ET. Three early prelims air on Hulu and stream on ESPN+ at 6 p.m. ET.
[autotag]Dan Hellie[/autotag] will host the official UFC 309 weigh-in show on Friday.
He’ll be joined by UFC Hall of Famer [autotag]Daniel Cormier[/autotag], coach [autotag]Din Thomas[/autotag] and [autotag]Laura Sanko[/autotag].
Former UFC title challengers [autotag]Chael Sonnen[/autotag] and [autotag]Anthony Smith[/autotag], as well as retired lightweight contender [autotag]Paul Felder[/autotag] will serve as a desk analysts on the UFC 309 post-fight show and throughout the card, when necessary. [autotag]Brendan Fitzgerald[/autotag] will serve as the host.
Longtime UFC correspondent [autotag]Megan Olivi[/autotag] will conduct pre and post-fight interviews backstage with some of the athletes on the UFC 309 card, as well as report additional real-time updates for the event.
[autotag]Jon Anik[/autotag] will serve as the leading man on the mic from cageside at UFC 309.
He will command play-by-play alongside color commentators and UFC Hall of Famer Cormier and [autotag]Joe Rogan[/autotag].
(Mike Bohn, MMA Junkie)
Main event: Jon Jones
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 04: Jon Jones looks on during the UFC heavyweight championship fight against Ciryl Gane of France during the UFC 285 event at T-Mobile Arena on March 04, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) ORG XMIT: 775947443 ORIG FILE ID: 1471352966
Record: 27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC Opponent: Stipe Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC) Division: Heavyweight Key wins: Ciryl Gane Misc.: Won vacant heavyweight title with first-round submission of Ciryl Gane in March 2023. That was his debut at heavyweight after years as the light heavyweight champion. He’s been on the shelf with an injury till now.
Main event: Stipe Miocic
Stipe Miocic
Record: 20-4 MMA, 14-4 UFC Opponent: Jon Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC) Division: Heavyweight Key wins: Daniel Cormier (twice), Francis Ngannou, Junior dos Santos, Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum Misc.: Lost the heavyweight title in March 2021 to Ngannou. Was set to fight Jones a year ago until Jones’ injury took him out. Miocic chose to wait for Jones’ return rather than fight, putting his current layoff at around 44 months. Prior to this, the longest Miocic ever had gone without a fight was 13 months.
Co-main event: Michael Chandler
Nov 12, 2022; New York, NY, USA; Dustin Poirier (red gloves) and Michael Chandler (blue gloves) during UFC 281 at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Jessica Alcheh-USA TODAY Sports
Record: 23-8 MMA, 2-3 UFC Opponent: Charles Oliveira (34-10 MMA, 22-10 UFC) Division: Lightweight Key wins: Tony Ferguson, Dan Hooker Misc.: Former Bellator champion has had mixed success in the UFC, including a knockout loss to Oliveira in a title fight that he’ll be trying to avenge as an underdog Saturday.
Co-main event: Charles Oliveira
May 15, 2021; Houston, Texas, USA; Charles Oliveira applies a hold against Michael Chandler uring UFC 262 at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Record: 34-10 MMA, 22-10 UFC Opponent: Michael Chandler (23-8 MMA, 2-3 UFC) Division: Lightweight Key wins: Beneil Dariush, Justin Gaethje, Dustin Poirier, Chandler, Tony Ferguson Misc.: Oliveira already has one win over Chandler – a knockout to win the vacant lightweight title in 2021. He defended it against Poirier and beat Gaethje – but in a fight for which he missed weight and was stripped of the belt. After a loss to new champ Islam Makhachev, he rebounded against Dariush, but lost a likely title eliminator to Arman Tsarukyan in April.
UFC 309 main card betting odds
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – FEBRUARY 03: (R-L) Viviane Araujo of Brazil punches Natalia Silva of Brazil in a flyweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UFC APEX on February 03, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
Champ Jon Jones (-625) vs. Stipe Miocic (+455) – for heavyweight title
Michael Chandler (+205) vs. Charles Oliveira (-250)
