If you look at the 12-4 record of Cameron Smotherman, it’s damn impressive. There are wins over Contender Series veterans, top prospects and there are regional championships on his mantle. However, just one fight ago, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.
Two of those losses had come at the worst times possible. One of which was early in his career with Dana White watching as part of his Looking for a Fight series. The other of which was on Contender Series, again with the boss man in attendance. After the latter of the two, Smotherman wasn’t sure there was a future in the sport for him.
“I pretty much gave up all hope. You know, it’s hard putting everything into one moment and then for it to go like that,” Smotherman admitted. “I feel like it would have been easier to accept if I had, you know, just got my ass whooped from the beginning to the end of the fight. But it was the same thing [on Contender Series and] Looking for the Fight. I mean, it’s hard to say that those guys are better than me.”
After some begging from teammates, he got back to work. However, despite being in the gym, he didn’t really feel like he was all there.
“I was in the gym physically, but I wasn’t really there mentally. Like my last, I think it’s like my last three fights in theory, I was training,” he said. “I was in shape, but I wasn’t giving it my all. I wasn’t all in. I was kind of looking for a reason to quit, going into pretty much all of those fights. I was really just getting by off the talent and the hard work I did years prior.”
After those three impressive victories with very little drive behind them, he was ready to lay down the gloves. Not only was he now considering it, but he had a plan for when and where.
“I’m kind of embarrassed of it at this point, but I mean, even before I got the call up my last fight, I was supposed to fight for the Fury [FC] Belt in December,” Smotherman said. “I didn’t tell my friends or my family, but I was going to quit after that fight. Like whether I won or lost, I was done. I was looking out the door.”
Then, as he was cornering a teammate at a UFC event in Abu Dhabi, Smotherman got the call he had been waiting for. The UFC needed a late replacement at bantamweight and his agent wanted to know if he was on weight. After a quick check and a confirmation he was on the way to Vegas to make his debut.
It all happened so fast that he wasn’t quite sure how to process the emotions.
“Everything happened so fast. I didn’t even get to really appreciate it. The only time I had a moment to be like, ‘wow, like what the f*ck?’ is when I was on the plane from London to Vegas, I think it was like a 10 hour flight or 12 hour flight or something and by now I’m like hungry and I’m getting emotional,” he said. “I started watching Inside Out 2 and it just unlocked something. I started tearing up, and then I was like, ‘damn, I don’t know if it’s worth it’. And they just see me crying by myself. They think I’m crying because of Inside Out 2, but I really didn’t have a chance to process it until after the win.”
With the victory over Jake Hadley in the bag, he now looks to make it two straight. He fights Serhiy Sidey as part of the UFC Des Moines main card. The fight card begins at 7pm EST on ESPN+.
You can also catch the full audio of this interview on the latest edition of the Top Turtle MMA Podcast at 23:39.
