On this day in 2020, the UFC's main event between two top candidates in the light heavyweight division became an uncomfortable watch.
Anthony Smith recently retired after taking the walk for the last time in UFC Kansas City, where he was stopped in the first round by Mingyang Zhang.
Although Smith suffered some bad losses in his time, many felt the feeling that 'Lionheart' deserves to celebrate after he approached too much in his career.
The 59-Fight veteran completely achieved a slightly heavyweight title shot in which he challenged Jon Jones after returning to the UFC in 2016.
One of the aforementioned decisive defeats that the 36-year-old passed five years ago, where his opponent apologized during a beatdown.
Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC
Anthony Smith told his corner that his teeth fell out during his one -sided loss for Glover Teixeira
On May 13 in 2020, Anthony Smith looked to take back-to-back victories to recover from his loss to Jon Jones on UFC 235.
'Lionheart' had already beaten the former title -seconder Alexander Gustafsson, but now it was time for him to hire another opponent who both he and Jones have in common.
Smith was matched with Glover Teixeira who was revival in the middle of a late career after he had lifted his hand in his last three trips.
Although the fight was competitive due to the first two rounds, it changed to the third, where Smith later revealed that an uppercut had loses his eyesight in one eye because of a broken orbital bone.
Teixeira continued to rain in the sentence and at one point, when he went back to his corner, the American told his coaches: “My teeth fall out.”
The fight was stopped in the fifth round, but both Smith's coaches and the referee Jason Herzog revealed a lot of criticism because she did not stop the fight earlier.
At one point, with an apologetic Teixeira on his back, 'Lionheart' Herzog gave one of his teeth that had fallen with Smith and explained after the fight that this was caused by an elbow that landed on his jaw.
He thought about this moment and the criticism about the interruption, in an interview with Ariel Helwani for ESPN MMA shortly thereafter.
“Yes, I wish I hadn't done that. It is the aesthetics of it that just looks like, do you know? I look down, Glover touched me with just a small pop shot and my mouthpiece a bit down in the bottom of my teeth and I just looked down and my teeth were there.
“For whatever reason, I don't know if I thought I would do it back or what, but I was just:” Oh, there is my tooth “. I just grabbed it and then I had it in my hand and I didn't know what to do with it, so I just gave it to him.”
Glover Teixeira apologized halfway through the fight with Anthony Smith and started writing history
With Anthony Smith who took a lot of punishment on the ground, Glover Teixeira apologized during the fight with his opponent before he got the stop win.
Later in 2020, the Brazilian veteran Thiago Santos would submit to continue his remarkable turnout to title that led to UFC 267.
Teixeira would close this incredible run by beating Jan Bachowicz in September 2021 to win the light heavyweight title after submitting the champion in the second round.
This victory made him the oldest first champion in UFC history at the age of 42.