1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Former UFC Fighter Anthony "Lionheart" Smith Champions his Family: August 1st, 11:25am

Episode Date: August 1, 2025

Former UFC Fighter Anthony "Lionheart" Smith Champions his FamilyAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

You're listening to One-on-One with DP. Brought to you by Canopy Street Market on 937 The Ticket and the Ticketfm.com. I still hope that there's understanding of how appreciative and grateful I am. And Anthony comes in and hangs out with us. Because there's lots going on. There are people, your fan base, you have people, you have corporate leaders who have just reached out. And it's always interesting to me that national speakers, they try to find their way into the space.

They heard you, the meeting was set with me, but they heard you and said, yeah, this is a guy that we could probably do it. I was just talking to your wife about it. And she said, that's a thing that, you're having Anthony Smith speak at events in high schools and to teams around the state is certainly going to be the next thing. That's wild to me. That's crazy to me. Oh, well, it's what you do and your ability to cut through in fewer words and say the thing that absolutely needs to be said exactly how it needs to be said.

That's the thing. Like that, that is a talent and a skill and a unique space. And in the middle of a fight, your ability to get verbiage out in a short burst and get the most result from it, that's a skill. That's a high level skill. so welcome to the speakers game yeah welcome to the speakers game um and and it there's lots of good stuff going on we talked about the family and you said you know had to get five and a half five and a half girls together and uh down here um and then you also mentioned the thing that again you're not really living the fighter's life um there's a lot of celebrity a lot of vices a lot of distraction a lot of those things

but you've kept your family as your focus in priority. How does that happen? Well, I think when I was really young, before I met Michaela, I kind of did the party and lived the fighter life thing. And it wasn't that much fun. Like, there wasn't a lot of fulfillment to it. And I always felt like I was missing something. And I just found that as I, excuse me,

as when I met Michaela and then, we started having, you know, started building this family. It was just more enjoyable for me. I would just rather do that thing than do the rest. And there's nothing positive that ever came from the other side of it. How about that? It's wild, right? Like in the moment when you're kind of, you're young and your party,

you're like, yeah, this is what it's supposed to be like, but it's really not that much fun. And I just naturally gravitated towards the thing that was more enjoyable for me. I just like being a normal person that has an extraordinary job. it's always interesting I had a group of friends that when I we grew up together

we played college ball together when we got done in college we all decided we were going to play semi-pro ball together and as we started to have families we partied first but then as we started to settle down and have families

the joke was yeah you party boys you party and then all of a sudden you shut down because you start having girls and in this group of 21 guys the very the first 47 kids were girls it's weird how that works isn't it it's weird how that works is most fighters generally there's some boys sprinkling sprinkled in here and there most fighters have girls it it it is the payback it's the it's the ultimate pay but there's no other way to

feel like i'm paid back in full you got a bunch i think i think i've got mine back for sure let's talk about the athletes. So, and they say that your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, your, talent from mom. Definitely. That's the scientific. That's science. That's not, that's not, that's not, that's not, that's not, that's not, that's not,

science. Science says the athletic ability comes from mom. So talk to me about the four athletes, the five athletes in your family, but the, the, the, the ladies, let's talk about, first of all, your wife, athlete. Athlete. Athlete. Incredible volleyball player. Even to this day, sometimes I'll get, I, I think it's been so long.

since she's played. You know, like when we met, she was playing like in a pretty competitive league and then she would play sand and then like drug me into it. And I am God awful at volleyball. I'm so bad. And she tried her best and, you know, taught me as much as she could. But I'm just, it's not meant for me. But she was an incredible, incredible player in high school, went on to play in, you know,

at Midland and Fremont. And my two. oldest daughters also play volleyball and absolutely it's weird watching to play like the way they move looks just like their mom it's it's a lot of fun to watch but yeah she's my wife's a way better athlete than i was isn't that just funny that you know we we we get a lot of flowers and then you realize it's just a more competitive space mine's a bit a bit in each yeah so i was able to figure it out and in volleyball you can't really punch anybody in the face to get ahead so not legally No, no, no.

Not legally. Been around the pro leagues for a bit. She was definitely better at what she did than what I did. That's right. Here's the thing. We've also here at the ticket, of course, we were partnered with the supernovas, and that was spectacular. We're now currently partnered with love volleyball, love Omaha.

There we go. And that was the call on Tuesday was, hey, practice some events. they said yes absolutely yes so we will pull that into the family describe them as athletes so you're your oldest volleyball player and what's basketball basketball so she's 13 it's like 6-1-ish incredible athlete I think her mindset for sports is probably her best asset of course she's incredibly technical of volleyball for especially for being you know a quote-unquote big she got really soft hand she's a great passer but she has a great mindset.

You know, she, you know, as girls get older and grow and they start to figure out the mindset part of it, and I think that's going to be the next big, I don't know, the next big evolution of her game once she can really die. Because being a 13 year old girl just in today's world is really hard. Just, that's just part of it. That's part of life. That's part of the process of growing up. So I think right now all 13 year old girls are in a really tough season of their life.

So once they can figure all of that stuff out and get everything kind of leveled and I don't know. Just not as peaks and valleys in terms of just where they are in life, I think that's going to make her better athlete. But she's already a standout. She's already incredible. So they already know. And we had some fun. The last time you were here, and you kind of said, yeah, it's a short list. A short list.

And you did not include some people that we got text. What do you mean? she wouldn't play at the blue school when I went. He said what he said. Like he meant that it was not an option. I mean, she's pretty heavy on Nebraska and Texas. I don't know where the Texas thing came from. I don't have to like it.

You know, I think my list is pretty, I think it's just one. Yeah. Unfortunately. When we talked to Jaylon Reyes, it was like, hey, Jaylen, we have to make this happen. He goes, no, no, no, say less. say less already in the radar let's already have that conversation she better be careful there her the next one my 10 year old is chasing her she's right behind her isn't that like that but that is the thing uh we were talking to i forget who i was talking to nationally and they

brought up the the william sister and said okay so the first one really has to be the pioneer but the settler gets to to take all the lessons of the first and your younger is watching you're older. I'm so happy they play different positions. Oh. I'm so happy they play different positions because I don't know if I could handle those, that type of competition in the house, but for now, you know, like sisters, they don't always like each other. But I think that my oldest is starting to see that her sister isn't, isn't bad. And she's not a rival. She's not a rival because they're not, they're not comparing themselves to each other, which is really nice. What's the younger sport of choice? What's she

eyeballing? Um you know I think for both of them they just really enjoy the sport that they're in at the time. I would say my oldest probably it seems like she and I see her happier playing basketball but she's Do I need to call Amy Williams and put the you know, do we need to do that? Is that? I think she's at a higher

level in volleyball so there's a lot more pressure. So I think sometimes the, unfortunately, the pressure sometimes takes away from the enjoyment at times. How do you make sure that that doesn't, that the pressure thing, at 13? At 13. At home, there's no pressure. Yeah. They have, Michaela and I give them really two expectations. We need max effort and, like, be a good teammate and have a good attitude.

So other than that, as long as you're trying as hard as you possibly can and you're not, you're not, you're not, you're not, throwing fits and you have a good attitude and your good sport. As long as you can do those two things, I don't really care about the result. Were you a throw fit kind of guy? 100%. Yeah, I knew that. That's why I asked. It had to be put into space. Yeah, 100%.

Like, we recognize wrong. The amount of lockers that I've destroyed after wrestling matches is more than I want it to be. It's definitely more than zero. It's more than zero. Listen, I can say to my... I'm a terrible

loser. I'm a terrible loser. Why would you want to be a good loser? I never understood that. I never. I'm not preaching things that I can't do. Like I'm, you know, and again, it's, it's a different level. We're talking club competitive. It was super competitive space. I'm not downplaying that. But the grand scheme of things, this is all about trying to gain skills and abilities and mindsets that are going to be successful towards

the end of high school going into college. I don't, I say this to, wrestling tournaments are the absolute worst place on planet earth. The amount of parents and coaches making their young kids, five, six, seven years old cut weight, screaming at them, dragging them off the mats by their arms, wanting to fight referees and other coaches is absolutely insane. I'm actual friends with David Taylor.

Like if I text them right now, he'll text me right back. I've never heard anybody. Do you know where David Taylor went to high school? Nobody does. You know how he did in club wrestling? Nobody does. No one's ever talked about it. No one never.

So I don't know why these parents and these coaches get so angry. The only time I've ever read Adley, my little wrestler, the only time I've ever read her the riot act is when I can see that she's quit. Other than that, I kind of just sit back. But we're going to talk, we're going to talk about the younger too. Because it's fascinating to me. All of it is a big point. part of it. And yeah, I've said this covering Nebraska wrestling and going to the Vegas

invitational, going to the Big Ten tournament, going to the national tournament. There were two things that were blatantly obvious. First of all, wrestlers are barely human. They're barely human. That's a different species type. There's a different genetic Cody. But so are the parents. And I have never been to an event, not football, not, not nothing. Wrestling parents all look like they are ready to fight all the time. They are. All the time. Like,

it is just cauliflower ears and veins. You go to a wrestling tournament. And the dads all look, and then the moms are walking like, say something. Say something. Jump off. Let me go ahead and show you where he'd get it.

And it's funny to me. I'm glad you said it, though. That's hilarious. Anthony Smith, we'll take a break, come back. I'm going to find about his two youngers because I have a sneaky

suspicion that athletically and otherwise you're going to be here from them as well. That's a deep stock and there's a lot of training going on out here in the lobby. So I can see how it works, Kedars, sir. Kudos to you both for the parenting job that you've done more one-on-one when we come back.