Anthony Smith has gone from UFC desk work to a very different kind of headline. The former light heavyweight title challenger, whose recent fight life included a Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA win over Chase Sherman, was booked in Sarpy County, Nebraska, on Monday, July 27, according to TMZ Sports.
The first reports say Smith, 38, faces one count each of domestic violence resulting in serious bodily injury, first-degree false imprisonment, and terroristic threats. MMA Junkie, in a story carried by Yahoo Sports, said it confirmed the arrest in online records and listed the booking time as 8:44 p.m. local time, one day after Smith’s 38th birthday.
MMA Orbit shared the booking news as it started moving around the fight world:
Former UFC light heavyweight title challenger Anthony Smith was arrested on Monday night in Nebraska.
According to arrest records, Smith faces felony charges of domestic violence, terroristic threats, and false imprisonment.
The DV charge alone can carry up to 20 years in jail if found guilty.
Smith has not yet seen a judge, and bond hasn’t been set.
(via @TMZ_Sports)
— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) July 28, 2026
Smith’s Post-UFC Chapter Takes A Hard Turn
The legal side matters here because these are charges, not convictions. The early reports did not include a detailed account of what allegedly led to the arrest, and TMZ said Smith had not yet seen a judge and bond had not been set at the time of its report. That is a big gap, so the only clean play is to stick to the booking records and what has actually been reported.
Smith has been around long enough that fans know the full arc. He fought Jon Jones for the UFC light heavyweight belt at UFC 235 in March 2019, losing by unanimous decision, and built a resume that also included wins over Alexander Gustafsson, Mauricio Rua, and Rashad Evans. Not a bad little murderer’s row for a guy who spent years taking short-notice chaos and turning it into main-event checks.
His UFC run ended after a loss to Mingyang Zhang in April 2025, when Smith retired inside the Octagon and thanked the promotion for changing his life. Retirement did not fully stick, because he later returned under Jorge Masvidal’s bare-knuckle MMA banner and stopped Sherman in the first round. He has also remained visible as a UFC analyst, which made Tuesday’s arrest news travel fast across MMA circles.
Smith has not publicly addressed the allegations as of this writing. The next meaningful update should come from Sarpy County court or law-enforcement records, not the usual MMA rumor blender. Until then, the known facts are ugly enough on their own: a former UFC title challenger and current analyst is facing three felony counts in Nebraska, and the fight world is waiting on the court process to explain what comes next.
