Anthony Smith broke his ankle in his UFC 277 fight against Magomed Ankalaev.

In the lead-up to UFC 277, Smith was vocal that he didn’t understand the hype with Ankalaev and was going to prove that. However, in the first round it appeared Smith hurt his ankle, and to begin the second round, he could barely stand and Ankalaev got the second-round TKO.

Now, Anthony Smith revealed to Ariel Helwani that he did indeed suffer a broken ankle and will need surgery.

Anthony Smith suffered a broken left ankle Saturday night in his fight against Magomed Ankalaev, Smith tells me this evening. It will require surgery.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) August 2, 2022

“Anthony Smith suffered a broken left ankle Saturday night in his fight against Magomed Ankalaev, Smith tells me this evening. It will require surgery,” Smith said.

With Smith needing surgery it is uncertain when he will be ready to fight again but it will likely be several months. Perhaps he can eventually work his way up to a rematch with Ankalaev, but for now, the Russian is hoping he can get the respect he deserves after beating Smith.

“I think I should already deserve respect. They should respect me,” Ankalaev said after UFC 77. “Not a lot of people have a nine-fight winning streak, and Jiri Prochazka got the title shot after two wins, and after nine I got nothing.”

Anthony Smith (36-17) suffered the TKO loss to Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 277 which snapped his three-fight win streak. During the win streak, he submitted Ryan Spann in the first-round of a Fight Night main event, TKO’d Jimmy Crute – in a fight Crute hurt his ankle in – and submitted Devin Clark in another main event.

Smith is currently 7-4 since moving up to light heavyweight and during that run he has also beaten Alexander Gustafsson, Volkan Oezdemir, Shogun Rua, and Rashad Evans. He also fought for the belt losing a decision to Jon Jones.

Who would you like to see Anthony Smith fight in his return once he heals up the broken ankle he sustained in his UFC 277 loss?