Magomed Ankalaev

Anthony Smith said he suffered a broken leg in the aftermath of his TKO loss to Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 277.

Rafa Garcia via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) “Of course this fight was very important for me,” Smith told Joe Rogan post-fight through an interpreter. With the win, Ankalaev broke out of a tie with Lyoto Machida for the second longest winning streak in divisional history at eight. At that point, the broadcast noted Smith was compromised, and he covered up as Ankalaev showered him with punches for the stoppage at the 3:09 mark of Round 2. Smith limped back to his corner after Round 1 and noted a potential issue to his corner. Both men landed some hard kicks, and a slip late in the round saw Smith on his back while Ankalaev stood over him peppering kicks.

Anthony Smith appeared to suffer a leg injury at the end of his fight with Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 277.

Booo!— Dominick Reyes (@DomReyes) July 31, 2022 At first though, some watching lamented the slow start to the fight and you can see those reactions below as well. However, Smith appeared to be nursing an ankle injury as he came out for Round 2 and after the conclusion of the bout, commentator Joe Rogan said that he heard Smith complain of a broken leg.

Anthony Smith vs. Magomed Ankalaev full fight play-by-play, live blog, results, and video highlights of UFC 277 main card live stream on ESPN+.

Smith is in turtle position now, and Ankalaev is just overwhelming him from strikes from behind. Big strikes from Ankalaev force Smith to cover up. Ankalaev nice right hand and switches to a right leg kick as Smith tries to move back out of range. Smith loses balance and falls to his back. Looks like Anthony Smith is carrying some sort of ankle injury into round two. Ankalaev stands above him and kicks his legs.

The UFC 277 PPV main card kicked off with the promotion's #4 ranked light heavyweight, Magomed Ankalaev, picking up a second round ground and pound TKO on ...

- UFC 277 Artist Series Event T-Shirt The opening round was a bit sticky, with a lot of measuring and feinting going on. The UFC 277 PPV main card kicked off with the promotion’s #4 ranked light heavyweight, Magomed Ankalaev, picking up a second round ground and pound TKO on former title challenger, Anthony Smith. It seemed as though Smith hurt his leg in some way, and after pulling guard, Ankalaev postured up to rain down blows.

UFC 277 results live: Magomed Ankalaev vs. Anthony Smith full fight recap of Light Heavyweight main card bout today (Sat., July 30, 2022) from American ...

In addition, it appears that Ankalaev managed to damage Smith’s ankle with either a check or calf kick, and that injury had a major impact on the fight. Smith tried to build up into a single leg, but Ankalaev sprawled and landed short strikes. On the whole, Ankalaev was landing the heavier kicks, including a notable high kick with about 90 seconds remaining in the round.

Magomed Ankalaev picked up a vicious ground-and-pound finish to win at UFC 277 after Anthony Smith suffered a devastating leg injury that left him unable to ...

Despite essentially competing on one leg, Smith still came out for the second round but he was forced to look for a takedown and Ankalaev wasted no time thwarting that attempt. When Ankalaev got more active, he started to connect with his combinations but Smith was keeping him honest with a variety of kicks to the legs and body. The Dagestani native earned a vicious ground-and-pound finish over one-time title contender Anthony Smith as he picked up his ninth win in a row overall while moving to 18-1 in his career.