An Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event was marred by a terrifying medical incident on Friday, January 23, when bantamweight fighter Cameron Smotherman collapsed face-first on stage moments after successfully making weight for his scheduled fight.
The 28-year-old Tennessee fighter weighed in at 135.5 pounds on the day of his fight on the UFC 324 pre-event card in Las Vegas to face Ricky Turcios in a welterweight battle scheduled for September 24.
Just seconds after stepping off the scale to begin walking away from it, Smotherman appeared disoriented before falling to the ground.
His collapse sparked immediate concern from commentators and viewers. After the incident, he was quickly removed from the platform by his team and staff.
He was later transported to a local hospital for evaluation.
Due to his collapse, his fight against Turcios has officially been removed from Saturday’s card.
It is anticipated that his collapse could be due to dangerous weight-cutting practices in which fighters often dehydrate themselves to lose a significant amount of weight.
They are then quickly rehydrated after the official weighing.
There is no official update on Smotherman’s health from UFC officials yet.
