Anthony Smith and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, not too long ago, made news when they apparently clashed on the latter’s podcast. ‘Lionheart’ took issue with some of the things that the former UFC champion said about him, leading to an awkward confrontation on the JAXXON Podcast. While Jackson claims Smith took things negatively and misunderstood him, it appears that there is no love lost between the two legends.

“You bring fighters on, you s–t on them — it happened to me,” said Anthony Smith during his JAXXON Podcast appearance, which, according to ‘Rampage’ Jackson, was far from the truth. He even tried to reason with ‘Lionheart’ and dropped a message, explaining that a misunderstanding had taken place between them, but that was met with no response, which triggered Jackson’s disdain towards Smith.

When Anthony Smith received the message on Instagram, he simply chose to leave Quinton Jackson on ‘read’. The former champion would have appreciated a response, but the fact that he chose to read the message and not answer it and not answer it back gave ‘Rampage’ the impression that he lacked the courage to stand up and face him. It was then that Jackson turned his attention to Smith’s decision to retire.

After a 17-year career in MMA and a title fight under his belt, Anthony Smith decided to call it quits following his loss to Zhang Mingyang. For Quinton Jackson, the retirement was a sign that ‘Lionheart’ did have it in him to get better and prove it the next time he has steps inside the Octagon. He wasn’t a fan of Smith’s decision to hang up his gloves for good.

“Anthony Smith kind of like shut off, and he took some s–t the wrong way. Honestly, with all due respect, he took the b—h way out… I can’t stand when dudes be acting like b—hes. I’m sorry. I just can’t,” Quinton Jackson stated on the recent edition of the JAXXON Podcast, featuring Henry Cejudo as the guest. “He took something the wrong way, and I messaged him, like, ‘Bro, you took it wrong,’ And I was trying to explain it to him. He left me on read, on Instagram, like a b—h.”

Meanwhile, Anthony Smith has his reasons for the retirement, and it’s not solely based on his lackluster performance towards the end of his UFC run. It has more to do with his lack of motivation to continue down the path of a fighter. Here’s what he had to say.

Anthony Smith decided to retire because he wanted to be a ‘normal human’

There is a lot that fighters go through and sacrifice to get to the top in combat sports, let alone in mixed martial arts. Anthony Smith has certainly had his highs and his lows, as, at one point, he faced difficulties after getting cut from the UFC in 2013. After almost a couple of decades fighting, ‘Lionheart’ finally decided to be more with his family, especially his kids, and live the life of a regular individual.

“It’s final. It’s really just because it’s not about fighting itself. It’s about everything that surrounds it that I’m just not as willing to do anymore,” Anthony Smith told ‘MMA Fighting’. “My kids deserve it. My children deserve not to have this thing all the time, and just not have me constantly waiting on the next big thing. Really just checking into them… [I’m] ready to just to be as close to a normal human as I possibly can.”

Well, we may wonder if Quinton Jackson would have shared negative remarks about Anthony Smith’s retirement decision if they hadn’t gone through their verbal altercation. Maybe or maybe not, but what do you think? Let us know your thoughts about these MMA legends in the comments down below.