UFC fighter Cameron Smotherman spoke after a scary moment at the pre-fight weigh-in for UFC 324, where he collapsed live on stage.
“Obviously I get a lot of messages and I appreciate all the genuine concern for me,” Smotherman, 28, told fans. via Instagram on Friday January 23. “I’m completely fine. I’m fine. I’m not entirely sure what happened.”
Smotherman had just stepped off the ladder during a live event Friday morning when she collapsed and landed face-first on the stage. UFC presenters Laura Sanko i Daniel Cormier they were audibly shocked as they expressed concern for the wrestler’s well-being.
“Oh no, oh no. That’s not right,” Cormier admitted to viewers, with a colleague interjecting, “That’s the first time I’ve seen that.”
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While the UFC’s live broadcast coverage moved away from the stage, MMA Junkie released alarming footage shot inside Nevada’s compound as coaches and trainers rushed to check on Smotherman. Several officials were heard calling for a doctor as others helped Smotherman back to his seat.
A doctor checked Smotherman’s vital signs on stage and encouraged him to drink fluids before the fighter was helped to his feet. As Smotherman appeared dazed and visibly staggered back on stage, two officials physically lifted him up and carried him to the back.
Smotherman seemed to be in a much better mood a few hours later. In his Instagram video, he tried to play down theories that his collapse could have been caused by an extreme weight cut leading up to Saturday’s bantamweight fight.
“People online say it was ‘crazy weight cuts’ (for the fight), things like that,” he acknowledged. “I didn’t really cut a lot of weight for this fight. I came in pretty low, but even (through) this week, I didn’t cut a lot of weight.”
The MMA fighter confessed: “I’m not entirely sure what happened and I have more tests and things to do in the next few weeks to get to the bottom of it. For all the people saying I must have made a crazy (weight) cut or something, I cut very, very little weight.”
Smotherman predicted that “hopefully he’ll be back soon” because he was feeling “completely fine.” He then apologized to his scheduled opponent, Ricky Turciosfor the cancellation of his fight at UFC 324.
fellow MMA fighter Kody Steele responded to Smotherman’s health update with some encouragement, writing, “Glad you’re ok bro.”
UFC veteran Matt Quick praised Smotherman as a “champion” while mixed martial artist Alex Perez shared a “praying hands emoji” in the comments.
“Hope you get well, can’t wait to see you out there,” one fan wrote to Smotherman, with another saying, “Thought you wouldn’t get up bro, but you showed your character.”
The UFC has yet to clarify whether the Smotherman-Turcios bout will be rescheduled for a later date.
The Smotherman-Turcios matchup was set to take place on the undercard of an event headlined by justin slave against Paddy Pimblett in an interim UFC lightweight title contest. Paramount+ aired live coverage of UFC 234 on Saturday from the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada.
Smotherman is known professionally as “The Baby-Faced Killa” and has been considered a rising star in the MMA world. He previously competed as part of Contender Series by Dana White in a bantamweight bout in August 2023 vs Charalampos Grigoriou, where he lost by TKO in less than a minute.
The fighter went on to win his own UFC Fight Night debut against Jake Hadley by unanimous decision in October 2024. Smotherman entered the now canceled fight with Turcios with a professional record of 12 wins, 6 losses and 0 draws.