Cameron Smotherman | Driven With Fresh Perspective

Last October, Smotherman was in Saudi Arabia, cornering his teammate Raufeon Stots, when he got a call on a Tuesday night asking him if he wanted to fly to Las Vegas to make his UFC debut against Jake Hadley.

He did, got on a plane, made weight, fought on that Saturday, and decisioned Hadley. Now, as he comes off a full camp, he wonders if he’s been doing things wrong the whole time.

Saturday's Fight By Fight Preview 

“That fight actually shifted my perspective on what getting ready for a fight means,” said Smotherman. “What is a fight camp and all this and that? At the end of the day, we already know how to fight. So it's like, what are we doing for six to 12 weeks before? It's better to just get in there where you don't have to think about nothing, to just make weight and go fight. You always hear about over-training and stuff like that, and I probably am a victim of that myself.”

Smotherman is probably not the first person to feel that way, but he may be the first to say it. That honesty is rare, and it makes the 27-year-old one of the most compelling prospects in the bantamweight division. That, and the talent that got him here in the first place. Not that it was an easy road for the 12-4 Texan, who nearly stamped his ticket to the UFC in 2023 when he faced Charalampos Grigoriou on Dana White’s Contender Series.

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But in a single minute, Grigoriou stopped Smotherman and sent him back to the drawing board.You might assume that three wins on the regional circuit and one in the UFC would have erased the memory of that loss (and his other three defeats), but that’s not the case. 

“No, I'm a very petty person,” Smotherman said. “So a part of me is still trying to plot and scheme away to get my rematches because it drives me nuts. I hate that moment. I feel like things happened how they needed to, and granted, I'm better now than I was then, but it's not like I sucked then, though. But yeah, I wish I could get over any of my losses, but I'm just too petty. It's just the fact that I can't get it back and I can't fight him again. It drives me nuts and I feel like I'll never get over it.”

That’s a fighter’s competitive spirit, and what you want to see. Not the never getting over it part, but it shows that Smotherman isn’t settling. He wants to win every time, and if he doesn’t, he wants a shot at redemption. That attitude will serve him well in Des Moines, as he takes on a fighter in Sidey who may take him into deep waters. Smotherman welcomes such a fight if he has to.

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“This guy is tough,” he said of Sidey. “He's tough and he's technical. Obviously, my goal is to knock him out, but considering he's never been knocked out, I got to be prepared to fight him for 15 minutes hard. His cardio looks good, too. So yeah, if I can get him out of there, trust me, I will. But if not, then yeah, I'm ready for a tough 15 minutes.”

And just like the first time, he’s not about to let the moment overwhelm him.

“The stakes are higher, but, at the end of the day, it's just a fight.”