# Elijah Smith knocks out Davey Grant in 60 seconds at UFC Vegas 124 Source: SportsBriefly (https://sportsbriefly.com) Canonical URL: https://sportsbriefly.com/en/mma/elijah-smith-knocks-out-davey-grant-in-60-seconds-at-ufc-vegas-124-2026-11-09-ev Language: en Published: 2026-11-09T15:03:30.562+00:00 Updated: 2026-11-09T15:03:30.616123+00:00 > Elijah Smith knocked out Davey Grant in 60 seconds at UFC Vegas 124, the first KO loss of Grant's career. ## TL;DR - Elijah Smith knocked out Davey Grant in 60 seconds at UFC Vegas 124, the first KO loss of Grant's career. - Smith earned a $100,000 Performance of the Night bonus and finished his UFC contract 4-0. - The 24-year-old told the UFC he is a free agent and called out Sean Shelby and Hunter Campbell. ## Key points - Elijah Smith knocked out Davey Grant in 60 seconds at UFC Vegas 124, the first KO loss of Grant's career. - Smith earned a $100,000 Performance of the Night bonus and finished his UFC contract 4-0. - The 24-year-old told the UFC he is a free agent and called out Sean Shelby and Hunter Campbell. Elijah Smith needed exactly one minute to produce the loudest statement of his young career. The 24-year-old bantamweight knocked out Davey Grant at 1:00 of the first round on the main card of UFC Vegas 124 at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas, becoming the first fighter ever to stop the durable English veteran by knockout and closing out his UFC contract in the most emphatic way possible. The finish, which earned Smith a $100,000 Performance of the Night bonus, took barely longer to describe than it did to happen. Grant, 40, had never been knocked out in 29 professional fights. Smith changed that in 60 seconds, and then used his post-fight interview to remind the UFC that he is now a free agent. ## Sixty seconds of chaos Both men came out throwing, and for a few seconds the fight looked genuinely competitive. Grant, fighting out of Bishop Auckland, found his range early and landed sharp kicks, and he even caught Smith with a clean left hand that knocked the younger man backwards. It was the kind of opening that suggested the veteran's experience might carry the night. Then Smith answered. A short check hook hurt Grant, and a follow-up combination sent him stumbling backwards towards the fence. Smith pursued him without hesitation, landed a series of violent right hands, and put Grant down on the canvas. Two more massive punches on the ground ended the contest, and the referee stepped in with the clock showing exactly one minute gone in the opening round. The official result read knockout by punches at 1:00 of round one, on a main card broadcast on Paramount+. Smith improved to 11-1 overall and 4-0 inside the UFC, extending his winning run to nine straight fights, while Grant fell to 9-8 in the UFC. ![A mixed martial artist stands over his opponent on the canvas inside the cage](https://api.sportsbriefly.com/storage/v1/object/public/media/api/1794236595886-7tk4re-mma-inside1-2026-11-09-evening.jpg) ## The first man to stop Grant What made the finish remarkable was not only its speed but its target. Grant had built his reputation on toughness across nearly a decade in the UFC, surviving wars that would have finished lesser fighters and turning his career around in the 2020s after reaching the final of The Ultimate Fighter in 2013. He had lost before, but nobody had ever put him out cold. Grant admitted afterwards that his preparation had been near flawless and that he had felt physically and mentally confident coming into the fight. He described himself as gutted by the defeat in a statement posted after the event, but he also made clear that his career is not over, vowing to fight on in 2027. He is now 3-3 in his past six fights dating back to July 2022, and at 40 the question is no longer whether he can take a punch, but how much longer he wants to keep proving it. Smith, by contrast, is only getting started. The second-generation UFC fighter had already announced himself with a highlight-reel slam knockout of Toshiomi Kazama and a submission of Su Young You in March, and this was his third consecutive stoppage inside the octagon. He said afterwards that he is not even close to his prime, a frightening thought for a bantamweight division that has already seen what he can do at 24. ## A contract ended in a minute The timing of the performance could hardly have been better for Smith. The fight was the last on his first UFC contract, and he had said during fight week that nobody from the promotion had spoken to him about a new deal. He made his case in the cage, and then he made it again on the microphone, calling out UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell and matchmaker Sean Shelby by name. "Sean, Hunter, I'm a free agent," Smith said. "Talk to me." It was a short pitch, delivered with the confidence of a man holding a $100,000 bonus cheque and a 60-second knockout on his record, and it left the UFC with little room to play hard to get. The bonus was one of four handed out on the night. Johnny Walker and Waldo Cortes-Acosta shared the $100,000 Fight of the Night award for their heavyweight main event, which Walker won by third-round stoppage, while Thomas Petersen collected the other Performance of the Night bonus. Smith's share felt like the easiest decision of the evening. ![A fighter lands a kick on his opponent during a mixed martial arts bout in a ring](https://api.sportsbriefly.com/storage/v1/object/public/media/api/1794236607596-mthn8e-mma-inside2-2026-11-09-evening.jpg) ## What comes next Smith now sits 4-0 in the UFC with three straight finishes, a nine-fight winning run, and a highlight that will be replayed every time his name is mentioned. The bantamweight division is one of the deepest in the sport, and a ranked opponent is the obvious next step if the UFC meets his contract demands. His message was that the promotion should come and talk to him, and after Saturday night it would be a surprise if it did not. For Grant, the road is less clear, but his own words suggest he is not ready to walk away. He wanted a first-round knockout himself at media day, and instead he suffered the first knockout loss of his career. He has promised to return in 2027, and if he does, his next fight will carry a new question: how does a fighter who had never been knocked out come back from the night it finally happened? Smith answered his own question in 60 seconds. The rest of the bantamweight division now has to answer his. Mentions: Elijah Smith, Davey Grant, UFC Vegas 124, Meta APEX, Las Vegas, Sean Shelby, Hunter Campbell, Toshiomi Kazama, Su Young You, Johnny Walker, Waldo Cortes-Acosta, Thomas Petersen, Bishop Auckland, Paramount+ ## Sources - [mmajunkie.usatoday.com](https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/story/sports/ufc/2026/11/07/ufc-vegas-124-video-elijah-smith-knock-out-davey-grant-60-seconds/92665252007/) - [sherdog.com](https://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Johnny-Walker-scores-wild-knockout-of-Waldo-CortesAcosta-in-UFC-Vegas-124-main-event-203533) - [combatsportsuk.com](https://combatsportsuk.com/news/1663f1a3-ee44-41f6-91ca-61fe872ff928/elijah-smith-knocks-out-davey-grant-60-seconds-free-agent-ufc-vegas-124) - [mmamania.com](https://www.mmamania.com/ufc-bonuses-and-awards/484643/official-ufc-vegas-124-post-fight-bonus-winners-results-paramount-waldo-walker)