LAS VEGAS — Canadian welterweight Christien (Tiger) Savoie was stopped in the second round by unbeaten American Jacobe Smith on Dana White’s Contender Series on Tuesday. The 32-year-old from Saint John, N.B.
, was the biggest underdog on the five-fight mixed martial arts card at plus-625, meaning a $100 wager would return $625 in profit. The oddsmakers had it right. Savoie, while game, absorbed a beating.
The Contender Series, held at the UFC’s Apex production facility, offers fighters a chance to impress UFC president Dana White — and possibly earn a UFC deal. Savoie (10-2-1) came into the bout unbeaten in his last three outings (2-0-1) in Fight League Atlantic where he was the promotion’s inaugural welterweight champion. A GoFundMe page was set up in advance of Tuesday’s bout to help get his support team to Las Vegas.
Smith, who has been campaigning of late in the Fury Fighting Championship, is a former two-time national junior college wrestling champion at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College. He then transferred to Oklahoma State where he earned All-American honours in 2018. Smith (9-0-0) used his wrestling skills to dump Savoie within the first 30 seconds.
The Canadian fought his way up to the fence but was taken down again. Savoie, who was cut on the back of his head, could not deal with Smith’s grappling and spent most of the round trying to fend off the American. An elbow from above resulted in another Savoie cut and the under-pressure Canadian was warned to.