Smotherman, 28, appeared visibly unstable as he completed his weigh-in Friday morning at T-Mobile Arena. After stepping on the scale and registering at 135.5lb, the American fighter walked off the platform before losing consciousness and falling forward onto the stage floor. UFC staff and medical personnel quickly intervened, attending to Smotherman within seconds of the incident. He regained consciousness shortly afterward and was escorted away for further examination by physicians.
Normally for any title fight with a reigning champion coming into the event, there would be a little (c) next to the title holder's name in the results section down below. Not so with Oktagon 79 however, as despite coming into Fight Week as the Oktagon MMA welterweight champion, Ion Surdu found himself stripped of his title prior to the event.
"I haven't talked about it a lot, but I was really not feeling good during that fight. I had a tough weight cut, and then just kind of messed up on my refueling process. Really had some like stomach issues going on, and certain things like that,"
Former UFC strawweight Cynthia Calvillo has announced her retirement from mixed martial arts. Calvillo (10-6-1), who competed for the UFC from 2017 to 2023, was last in action a year ago, winning the HEX women's flyweight championship in regional action. In her heyday, she was considered a contender at 115lbs, winning her first three bouts with the company before running into former (and future) women's strawweight champion Carla Esparza. More wins would follow that setback, with Calvillo going 4-0-1 over her next five fights.