On July 31 at UFC 277, Ankalaev defeated Smith via unanimous decision.
“I was in better shape and felt that the fight was under control. None of his actions surprised me. I expected it to be better. He is not as good and was not as big as he seemed to me.
In the first round, I thought it was very simple. I do not want to belittle his merits, but he did nothing to me. He's good, like I said before, but this guy can hardly be called the boogeyman of our division, ”Smith said on the Believe You Me podcast.