'Room covered in blood': UFC star's 'terrifying' fight for his life with home intruder

UFC light heavyweight contender Anthony Smith has recounted a “terrifying” home invasion that took place last Sunday as he fought to protect his family.

Smith, the UFC’s No. 3 ranked light heavyweight, recounted the terrifying night in an interview with ESPN’s Ariel Helwani, saying that his wife woke him up just after 4am after she could hear a man in the house screaming.

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The 93kg light heavyweight then found the man in the family’s computer room where a brawl broke out.

Meanwhile, his wife gathered their three daughters in a bedroom and closed the door.

Smith, who lost to light heavyweight champion Jon Jones last March, called it “one of the toughest fights” he ever had despite the intruder weighing around 73kg and appearing to have no fighting training.

"No normal human is able to fight like that," Smith told ESPN.

"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."

Fight with intruder lasts five minutes: Smith

Smith said the ensuing fight ended up lasting more than five minutes in which the room was covered in blood.

“My entire computer room is covered in blood,” Smith added. “There’s blood on the walls, it’s a mess.”

Police eventually came to subdue the intruder and Smith’s family was unharmed.

Curiously, the intruder — who was later charged with first-degree criminal trespass — reportedly did not appear to steal anything.

Smith reported that neighbours had video of the intruder trying to enter their homes. He apparently got into Smith’s house through an open garage door.

The UFC fighter said he was absolutely “terrified” during the encounter.

"I went into that fight ready to die,” he added.

So the experience didn’t quite end like the attempted mugging of strawweight Polyana Viana or the restaurant fight involving Hall of Famer Matt Serra.

Smith most recently defeated Alexander Gustafsson via rear-naked choke submission, and missed out on the light heavyweight belt against Jones via unanimous decision. This fight ended up being more important.

With Jack Baer - Yahoo Sport US