There was no UFC this past weekend, but there was still plenty that happened here at OddSmokerMMA. This is a quick roundup of some recent events during the off week, some exciting news and updates regarding our future plans and some early leans for UFC Kansas City this weekend.

We were invited out to Island Fights 88 this past Friday in Pensacola, Florida and we had an absolute blast! It was an excellent night of combat sports action and an all-around enjoyable experience. We’ve attended a handful of various regional MMA events, and this was definitely one of the most well put together and entertaining cards we’ve been to with excellent pacing and constant action.

Big shoutout to our guy BJ “The AceMan” Williams for pulling off a beautiful last-second TKO victory at the event to secure an upcoming Middleweight title shot with Island Fights! Williams improved to 4-0 in his fight career with the win and definitely a prospect to keep your eye on in the future.

Huge thank you to David Van Auken and Fight Bananas for extending the invitation to come out and for providing us with media passes for the event. You can visit our new MILLIONS page for some pre- and post-fight interviews from the night with more being uploaded this week. If you aren’t familiar with or following Fight Bananas on social media, I highly recommend checking them out, they have an awesome and entertaining team to keep you informed on everything MMA.

We also want to say thank you to Dean and Ryan Toole for their hospitality and generosity while we were attending the event. Dean Toole is the mastermind behind Island Fights, as well as many other combat sports ventures along with his brother Ryan. They couldn’t have been nicer when we met them at the event and definitely plan to work with them again in the future. If you’re in the Gulf Coast area, you should definitely try to catch one of their events.

And finally with our list of people to thank from this awesome trip, we want to extend a big thank you to our official sponsor Elite Sports for the amazing gear that helped make our trip to Pensacola much easier for the event! Their Convertible White Training Gear Gym Bag & Backpack and Mesh Black Large MMA Gear Gym Bag definitely made packing for the trip and getting our gear down there much simpler, so be sure to check them out for your needs.

Check out Kids BJJ Gis from Elite Sports, Official Sponsors of OddSmokerMMA!

We’re extremely excited to announce we have a new merch collaboration available with Cody Durden through our friends at MILLIONS! There are two different styles available ahead of his upcoming matchup at UFC Atlanta in June. All of the profits go to Cody, so grab one today if you want to show him some love or plan to attend to the card. We’re still figuring out the details, but we will be doing some type of giveaway for people who order, so let us know if you pick one up!

In case you missed it, we have officially launched “The Cage Walk Podcast with Kala” and there are now 10 episodes available over on our new MILLIONS account for the podcast. You can also catch previous episodes on our newly added Podcast page here on the website but be sure to follow the MILLIONS account for all of the latest uploads, as well as clips and other extras that won’t all make it here on the site.

I’m still in the process of finalizing my breakdowns and picks for UFC Kansas City this upcoming weekend, but there are a handful of spots that I’m already on or targeting early including Ian Machado Garry, Ikram Aliskerov, Malcolm Wellmaker, Da’Mon Blackshear, and Jacqueline Amorim. A couple of early prop bets that I’ll be looking at as they open include Garry to win inside the distance down the stretch and Blackshear and Amorim to both win by submission.

Check back this weekend for our full picks and bets post UFC Kansas City and stay tuned in the coming weeks for more exciting announcements here at OddSmokerMMA.

Be sure to check out our updated Merch page with our new gear available on MILLIONS. Also check out our Collabs page for all of our fighter shirt collaboration designs! Fighters, if you’re looking for graphics or merch/walkout shirt designs, reach out via our Contact page for more info because we would love to work with you!

If you enjoy our website, please make sure to follow us on social media and tell other MMA fans about OddSmokerMMA so we can continue to grow! All of your continued love and support is very much appreciated!