Anthony Wint advises Sean Sharaf to retire rather than fight him after brutal UFC 332 win
Anthony Wint continued to put the UFC heavyweight division on notice this past Saturday.
At UFC 332 in Salt Lake City, Wint needed only 23 seconds to score a brutal knockout win over Lucas Armand in his sophomore Octagon appearance — the fifth sub-60-second finish of his undefeated nine-fight career. The former linebacker for the NFL's New York Jets quickly targeted who could be next, calling out Sean Sharaf.
Speaking on Monday's edition of "The Ariel Helwani Show," Wint said he hasn't talked to his agent yet, but affirmed they know the matchup he wants. Sharaf recently scored a quick knockout of his own, upsetting Olympic champion Gable Steveson as a historic underdog with a 12-second knockout at UFC 331 last month.
"On paper, it makes sense," Wint told Uncrowned. " ... Stylistically, it's a step up. Sean's better than the guys I've fought before. Obviously, he has experience. But it's all on Sean.
"I watched the Joe Rogan podcast [with Sharaf], funny enough. I saw that portion where he talked about retiring — and that'd be the smartest thing for him to do. Not saying anything against Sean, but I honestly don't think he could be a world champion. That's nothing against him. It's going to take a lot for me to be a world champion. I think I have a little bit more than Sean, but him beating Gable Steveson is almost unfathomable."
Wint, 31, mentioned that he's personally familiar with Sharaf, as they trained together for a time before Wint earned his UFC contract through Contender Series in August.
Ahead of Sharaf's camp for Steveson, Wint said he effectively played the role of Sharaf's opponent, helping him prepare for what they expected to be a stiff challenge.
"I told him, 'If I was Gable, I would go out there and try to take your head off, try to knock you out,'" Wint said.
"Because just like Gable, just like me against Lucas, I knew I could wrestle Lucas. Lucas' wrestling is a lot worse than his striking, and his striking wasn't that good. But that doesn't add a notch to my belt. I went out there and submitted Terrance Chatman [in my UFC debut], who had a bit of a different game plan. He's a different fighter. I wanted to get that knockout. I wanted to get that $100,000. ... So I'm going for the knockout all the time. It makes better marketing when you put somebody flat on their face.
"But it's up to Sean. There's no beef. Sean's a great guy," Wint continued. "I hope he doesn't take it with ill will. At the end of the day, we're just fighters, and as much as I'm calling him out and [trying to] steal his clout, I think it's a very good fight. It's a step up in risk, but it's a big step up in reward. It's up to him."
Ultimately, Wint said he isn't trying to stir the pot with negativity, and he even added that he'll gladly train with Sharaf again if they don't end up fighting.
In the meantime, Wint gets to bask in the glory of another quick victory. Or at least, he's trying to. A sub-minute finish is always nice for the limited damage he sustains, but at the same time, Wint would've liked to show off more of the work he put in for UFC 332.
"I tell my coaches this — I'm going to use my words carefully — I say, 'I feel like a crackhead [after these fights],'" Wint said. "No offense to anybody who suffers with drug abuse. I've had, what, five wins that ended in under 40 seconds, and I train so hard, man. We condition a lot. I've got a great team behind me, and it's like, I've got more to put out there.
"I kind of already knew that going into this fight. Obviously, I want to give my opponent as much as I can give them, make them as good as I can be. But I knew going into that fight that Lucas didn't have anything for me. It was just me deciding, 'Hey, once I start punching, I'm not going to stop,' and we saw the result."
Quick knockouts have been the name of the game for Wint more often than not in his nine-fight MMA career. He's gone to a decision only once before — in his third pro bout, when he defeated Omar El-Sahlah via a split decision in March 2025 for Fury FC.
Even still, Wint said he understands exactly where his weaknesses lie as he continues to progress through the UFC's heavyweight ranks.
"It's going to be hard for guys without the capabilities and experience to beat me, because I study too well," Wint said. "I kind of already know how to beat myself. I think there's a game plan for everyone, and as I look at the game plan for me, I make sure I work on those attributes more than anything.
"When you think you're going to take advantage of this or take advantage of that — maybe my inexperience, my explosiveness, my lack of cardio — that's what we spend the majority of our time in the lab working on. So I'm excited to start working my way up the ranks and get tested a little bit more, which is a weird thing to say."
Wint has thus far looked borderline unstoppable in the UFC, but he also knows that's fool's gold. Unless you're someone like former two-division champion Jon Jones, who Wint cited as an example, no one can be entirely perfect in that cage every time out.
Rather, it's about being the first to exploit the other's weaknesses, said Wint.
"I think it's obvious [where I'm weakest right now]. It's not like I have to tell anybody with a decent coach, anybody who knows martial arts or just warfare in general, knows that a person can't have everything," Wint said. "There's very few martial artists to ever live that's like, 'OK, you can't beat this guy unless he's having a bad day.'
"I know I'm limited in some areas, but because I know I'm limited in those areas, I make sure I work on them. When my opponent comes to try to take advantage of me in those places, the road is closing, and he has to go in another direction."