Chris Billam-Smith vs Ryan Rozicki: Briton earns stoppage victory on Zuffa Boxing’s UK debut
Zuffa Boxing began staging shows in January and set out to shake up the boxing world under the management of UFC president Dana White.
But their first foray into the UK, signing a broadcast deal with Sky Sports, came under threat of legal action from British promoter Boxxer over claims Billam-Smith, Jack Massey and Sam Hickey raced without “consent or permission”.
Saturday’s card moved quickly, with seven of the eight fights in the prelims and the main card going away.
The ring march for the main event started at 21:15 ET; Rozicki carried a book in tribute to the legendary Jack Dempsey, while also wearing brown gloves and boots in tribute to the late heavyweight world champion.
While the stars of the boxing world took their places in the early hours of the night, heavyweight Conor Benn, who signed a contract with Zuffa Boxing in February, as well as British heavyweights Derek Chisora and David Adeleye, also sat at ringside.
AFC Bournemouth co-CEO Jim Frevola sat behind Zuffa Boxing chiefs Dana White and Nick Khan, while UFC flyweight Lone’er Kavanagh and WWE’s Finn Balor were also ringside.
The Bournemouth International Center has been known to produce some famous atmospheres for previous Billam-Smith fights and this has happened once again.
The biggest cheer of the night came for the hometown fighters as Bournemouth middleweight Lee Cutler also got the win.
