Cameron Smotherman was involved in a frightening scene on Friday, as he collapsed onstage during his weigh-in ahead of UFC 324.
Smotherman was scheduled to face Ricky Turcios in a bantamweight contest on Saturday night, with the fight taking place at Las Vegas’s T-Mobile Arena.
However, the bout was cancelled after Smotherman fainted while trying to walk off the stage, following a successful weigh-in.
The American, 28, was 0.5lb inside the 136lb limit, but he appeared dazed and stumbled as he stepped off the scales, before he fell face first onto the floor.
A panel of presenters was hosting the UFC’s live stream of the weigh-in, with UFC champion-turned-commentator Daniel Cormier exclaiming, “Oh, no!”, while colleague Laura Sanko said, “Oh, s***. Oh, my God.”
The visual feed immediately cut to Cormier, Sanko, ex-UFC champion Chris Weidman and their co-host Dan Hellie. Meanwhile, Smotherman was aided by a member of his team, a UFC medical staff member, and other personnel.
After cutting away again, the visual feed soon revisited Smotherman, who was lying on his back and awake, before he was able to sit up. The next time the camera cut to the stage, Smotherman was on his side in the recovery position and still conscious. Before long, Smotherman was helped to his feet and off the stage.
Heading into UFC 324, Smotherman was hoping to snap a two-fight losing streak, having come up short against Serhiy Sidey in May and Ricky Simon in a quick turnaround in June. Both fights were lost on points, and Smotherman’s only previous UFC outing was a decision win over Jake Hadley in 2024.
Meanwhile, Turcios is 2-3 in the UFC and is also on a two-fight losing streak. The American, 32, lost to Benardo Sopaj last time out, suffering a points defeat in January 2025.
Also at the UFC 324 weigh-in, Deiveson Figueiredo and Alex Perez missed weight for their respective fights.
Perez weighed in at 128.5lb for his scheduled clash with Charles Johnson at flyweight, where Figueiredo is a former champion. However, Figueiredo has fought at bantamweight in recent years, and he similarly missed his limit by 2.5lb on Friday, ahead of a planned bout with Umar Nurmagomedov.
Figueiredo accepted a 20 per cent fine, with that money going to Nurmagomedov, and their fight will go ahead as planned. It is expected that the same will apply to Perez and Johnson.
In better news, the main event was made official after Paddy Pimblett and Justin Gaethje both made weight for their interim title fight at 155lb.
Liverpool’s “Paddy The Baddy” tipped the scales at 155lb, before former interim champion Gaethje weighed in at 154lb. The winner of their clash is expected to be next for regular champion Ilia Topuria, a bitter rival of Pimblett.
