UFC light heavyweight Anthony Smith said fighting a home intruder was the toughest fight of his life.
With his wife, mother-in-law and three children in the house, the 31-year-old woke in the early hours of Sunday morning to find Luke Haberman ‘screaming at the top of his lungs’.
Smith subdued Haberman, who was arrested and charged with first-degree criminal trespass, a misdemeanour, according to local law enforcement in Douglas County, Nebraska.
According to reports, Sgt. Wayne Hudson of the Sheriff’s office said Haberman was issued a citation and released to the hospital. He was not taken into police custody but must report to court at a later date.
“I didn’t know what he had,” Smith told ESPN of the encounter. “Typically people don’t break into your house in the middle of the night for any good reasons.
“I’m expecting that I’m gonna hear a gunshot or he’s gonna stab me. Like he’s got something. I figure I’ve got about two minutes before whatever he’s got takes me out.”
Smith has been in the octagon with some of the very best in the world, including current light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones, considered by many people to be the greatest of all time.
Smith, who fights at 205lbs, estimated the intruder was around 170lbs but he had serious trouble keeping him down and the struggle lasted a number of minutes.
“No normal human is able to fight like that,” Smith said. “I’m by no means the baddest dude on the planet. But he’s a regular Joe and I had a hard time dealing with him. And he took everything that I gave him – every punch, every knee, every elbow. He took every single one of them and kept fighting me.”
Smith also revealed his mother-in-law brought him a kitchen knife at one point, which he held to Haberman, who continued to fight him regardless.
“I’m not lying when I said it was one of the toughest fights I’ve had in my whole life,” he added. “I went into that fight ready to die. Nobody smart breaks into a house in the middle of the night unarmed. … When they break in at night, it’s to hurt people.
“You always just think you’re such a badass.
“I just don’t feel like one. I feel … insufficient a little bit. I didn’t know it was possible to be that terrified.”
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Mixed martial arts is one of the few sports that hasn’t been completely suspended and UFC 249 is still scheduled for April 18 where Justin Gaethje will fight Tony Ferguson in the main event.
UFC president Dana White believes he has a private island that will host future events.
Smith is set to face Glover Teixeira at UFC Lincoln a week later and, despite the attack and the coronavirus outbreak, Smith says the fight is still on.
“I gotta do what I gotta do,” he said of the April 25 date. “I’ve got a job I’ve gotta take care of. Glover is still good to go. He’s still in. He’s training, he’s ready.”
