MMA

Jacobe Smith delivered a stunning knockout victory in his UFC debut against Preston Parsons on Saturday at UFC Vegas 101.

The 29-year-old welterweight secured the knockout just 1:13 into the first round.

With just eight days' notice, Smith, a former Dana White's Contender Series fighter, landed a decisive shot to Parsons' chin at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Smith previously competed in the Fury Fighting Championship and Xtreme Fighting League, maintaining an undefeated professional record with seven wins by knockout and six first-round finishes.

Following his victory, Smith made it clear that he is eager to make a name for himself in the UFC after his dominant win over the former 11-5 fighter, Parsons.

"This is my house," Smith said in his post-fight interview, per MMA Junkie's Mike Bohn. "Dana White, I appreciate the opportunity, but this is my house. Belal (Muhammad), knock knock."

Muhammad defeated former champion Leon Edwards in the main event of UFC 304, securing a unanimous decision victory to claim the Welterweight title.

The 36-year-old Muhammad boasts a dominant 24-3 professional record, with five wins by knockout and one by submission.

The top three fighters in the Welterweight division—Edwards, Shavkat Rakhmonov and Kamaru Usman—would likely intervene in Smith's high ambitions for the title in the highly competitive weight class.

The callout may be a bit premature for the debut fighter, but if he continues to perform with the dominance and grit he displayed on Saturday, he'll certainly work his way toward a title fight in the future.

Amid the ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles, the UFC is keeping its options open with UFC 311 scheduled to take place at the Intuit Dome on Jan. 18.

Per MMA reporter Ariel Helwani, the UFC is still planning to hold the event in Los Angeles, but will be "ready to move" if needed, with Las Vegas the likely replacement site.

Helwani noted there has been no discussion of delaying the show.

The wildfires have already impacted several sporting events in the city this week. A game between the Charlotte Hornets and Los Angeles Lakers scheduled for Thursday night was postponed by the NBA.

The Lakers and Clippers—who play their home games at the Intuit Dome—both have home games scheduled for Saturday, but the NBA has yet to make an announcement about whether they will be played.

An NHL game between the Calgary Flames and Los Angeles Kings scheduled for Wednesday was postponed. The NFL announced the upcoming Wild Card Round game between the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams on Monday night will be moved from SoFi Stadium to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

Per CNN.com, there are five active wildfires in Los Angeles County. The Pacific Palisades area has sustained the most damage with more than 20,000 acres burned. High winds in the area helped escalate the scope of the damage, as well as made it difficult for aircrafts to safely drop water to contain the fires.

There have been 10 confirmed deaths and more than 180,000 people ordered to evacuate their homes, per NBC News.

The Los Angeles Times noted city officials said as of Thursday night more than 9,000 homes, businesses and other structures have been damaged and destroyed by the Palisades and Eaton fires.

UFC 311 is slated to be the first UFC event at the Intuit Dome. The show features a double-main event with Merab Dvalishvili defending the men's bantamweight title against Umar Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev putting the men's lightweight title on the line against Arman Tsarukyan.

Former UFC stars Ronda Rousey and Travis Browne announced the birth of their second child, Liko'ula Pā'ūomahinakaipiha Browne, on Thursday.

Rousey broke the news with a video as well as a series of photos posted on her Instagram account (via TMZ Sports).

"Our little girl came into this world during a windstorm into a city on fire, so grateful she made it safe and sound," Rousey wrote in the caption.

The 37-year-old also included images of Browne as well as her older daughter, La'akea Makalapuaokalanipō.

Rousey initially announced the pregnancy at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2024.

She rose to stardom during her MMA days, becoming the inaugural UFC women's bantamweight champion. Rousey later switched careers to professional wrestling after consecutive losses in 2015 and 2016, signing with WWE on a full-time basis in 2017.

She was with WWE for two separate stints from 2018-19 and 2022-23, stepping away in 2019 to focus on starting a family before welcoming her first daughter.

Rousey and Browne revealed that their family continued to grow on Thursday.

Conor McGregor's next move in the world of combat sports remains unclear, but another potential opponent threw his hat in the ring to face him.

After it appeared that McGregor's rumored boxing match against WWE Superstar Logan Paul in India had fallen through, music artist-turned-boxer KSI took to social media to make it clear that he's serious about facing the former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion:

KSI also posted a story on his Instagram that mentioned McGregor with the caption, "Let's make this a reality."

McGregor, who hasn't fought in UFC since July 2021 when he suffered a broken ankle in his second straight loss to Dustin Poirier, caused a stir last month when he declared that he was delaying his return to the Octagon because he was "in preliminary agreements" to face Paul in an exhibition boxing match in India.

However, Paul appeared to shut down the possibility of meeting McGregor in the Octagon earlier this week. In a pre-taped vignette that aired during Monday Night Raw's premiere on Netflix, Paul claimed that he's committed to being a full-time WWE Superstar, saying, "And now I'm dedicating my life to this. No more side hustle. No more bulls--t. One hundred percent WWE Superstar. This is the beginning of the era of Logan Paul."

Since Paul appears to be unavailable, McGregor will need another big-name opponent if he hopes to achieve another massive payday. KSI, who has a 5-1-1 professional record in boxing, is popular enough to draw some attention if he gets his wish to face McGregor.

UFC Hall of Famer Donald Cerrone is planning to make his UFC return over the summer after retiring from the sport in 2022.

"I just re-entered the [UFC's drug-testing pool], so I have to be six months clean," Cerrone told Pacman Jones (h/t Yahoo Sports' Drake Riggs). "Probably June, July we'll come back. Coming back for just two more [fights]. I want 50 fights in the UFC. I promised the wife, no matter what happens, no matter the outcome, two more and that's it."

Cerrone, 41, lost six of his final seven fights and the other was ruled a no-contest after Niko Price tested positive for marijuana. He had two lightweight title bouts in his career, losing both of them.

Overall, he holds a 36-17-2 record in his MMA career.

Cerrone primarily fought at lightweight in his career, though he also had a number of fights at welterweight. His two-fight return will likely be at middleweight, however.

"I think it will be 185 [pounds]," he told Jones. "We'll see how my weight maintains when I start picking up training."

As for whether Cerrone would pursue the growing trend of former MMA fighters taking on the Paul brothers in boxing matches, "Cowboy" said he wasn't interested in going that route.

"Not boxing," he said. "If they want to come fight MMA, I would gladly welcome either. Anybody. Doesn't matter to me who I fight. But as far as boxing, I'm a terrible boxer, so I wouldn't sign up for that ass whooping."

Don't expect Conor McGregor's UFC hiatus to end anytime soon.

The former featherweight and lightweight champion said Tuesday on X he has secured "preliminary agreements" to fight Logan Paul in India. He also denied he's lining up a bout with current UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria:

Jake Paul, Logan's younger brother, chimed in and said McGregor has "been desperately trying to get MVP to negotiate a fight between us."

He indicated any agreement hinges on getting a green light from the UFC and president Dana White:

Assuming the exhibition with Logan Paul comes to fruition, it might be worth asking if McGregor ever steps inside the Octagon again.

More than three years have passed since his last UFC fight, a TKO defeat to Dustin Poirier in July 2021. His skills seemed to be diminishing even then considering his first-round TKO of Donald Cerrone at UFC 246 is his last win since 2016.

Now, McGregor is 36 and further beyond his peak, when he was one of the top pound-for-pound stars around.

The stage was set for the Irishman to make his long-awaited comeback this summer at UFC 303. He and Michael Chandler were scheduled to be the headliners in Las Vegas.

Instead, a broken toe forced McGregor to withdraw only weeks out from the event.

That leaves White yet again keeping the door open for his return but being unable to provide any specifics or guarantees.

Of course, nothing with Paul is finalized and we haven't heard the part-time boxer/WWE star weigh in to offer any confirmation. Tuesday's announcement does at least seem to outline McGregor's priorities at the moment, and the UFC isn't fitting into the equation.