Anthony Smith leg injury: Did Magomed Ankalaev cause Smith's UFC 277 leg break?

Anthony Smith suffered a leg break while taking on Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 277 in July. The injury occurred during the second round, but Smith has insisted that his Russian opponent wasn't the reason for his injury.

Many believed that a leg kick from Ankalaev caused 'Lionheart' to break his leg. However, speaking on the Believe You Me podcast with Michael Bisping, Smith made it clear that Ankalaev didn't cause the leg break (transcribed by MMA Fighting):

"I stepped on his foot and he pulled it out, and then... my ankle kind of went all funny. Then right after that, he banged that inside kick real hard. So it’s something like that. I know in the media and whatever, it’s been reported it was from a kick. It’s 100 percent not. It’s not from a kick. It's just f****** s*** luck."

Watch Anthony Smith speak about the injury here:

Anthony Smith has recently been in the headlines for non-MMA reasons, with the UFC fighter taking shots at Jake Paul. 'Lionheart' was seemingly unhappy with the YouTuber fighting retired MMA fighters and didn't like seeing legends of the sport get knocked out in the boxing ring:

"We hold these [MMA] guys near and dear to our hearts. And then this f**khead just pulls them out of f**king semi-retirement. And then just knock them out on f**king pay-per-view and then sh*ts on all of us."

Jake Paul recently beat Anderson Silva via unanimous decision in the YouTuber's latest test in the world of boxing.

Watch Smith speak about Jake Paul fighting MMA fighters here:

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What is Anthony Smith's current UFC record after losing to Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 277?

Anthony Smith was in great form before suffering a leg break against Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 277. Smith had won three fights in a row, but couldn't continue his win streak against the Russian and lost in the second round.

'Lionheart' currently has a UFC record of 11 wins and seven losses. However, Smith's recent defeats have only come against high-level opposition, with Jon Jones, Glover Teixeira, and Aleksandar Rakic all beating the American.

As mentioned, the 34-year-old was in good form before losing against Ankalaev. Smith beat Devin Clark, Jimmy Crute and Ryan Spann in consecutive bouts in 2020-21. Since suffering the injury at UFC 277, 'Lionheart' is yet to return to the octagon.