Three years ago, Cameron Saaiman accompanied his teammate and training partner Dricus Du Plessis to Fight Island as the middleweight made his UFC debut.
A budding prospect himself, Saaiman soaked in the experience, witnessing Du Plessis earn a stoppage victory, while fully believing that one day, he too would compete inside the famed UFC Octagon.
Saturday night in Las Vegas, the unbeaten 22-year-old makes the fourth start of his rookie campaign, striding to the cage at the UFC APEX to face off with fellow emerging bantamweight Christian Rodriguez in the opening bout of this weekend’s main card.
“A lot has happened in 14 months, and it’s happened very quickly,” Saaiman said as we spoke on Tuesday, reflecting on his still-not-completed first year on the UFC roster.
UFC YEAR ONE
While his journey to competing on the biggest stage in the sport began several years ago at home in Pretoria, South Africa, his introduction to a wider audience began last summer in Las Vegas, when he appeared on Season 6 of Dana White’s Contender Series.
Paired off with American Josh Wang-Kim, Saaiman cooly weathered the offense coming his way in the opening stanza, looking poised and comfortable beyond his years. As the fight progressed, Saaiman seized control, bringing the action to his fading opponent before sending him crashing face-first into the canvas courtesy of a clean left hook just passed the midway point of the third round.
The victory earned him a UFC contract, and less than four months later, he made his promotional debut, earning a similar third-round finish against Steven Koslow at UFC 282. Two more appearances and two more victories followed — the first by majority decision over Mana Martinez, and then a first-round stoppage win over Terrence Mitchell at UFC 290 in July — moving Saaiman’s record to 9-0 as a professional and positioning him as one of the top young talents on the roster.
In each of his first two appearances, Saaiman was docked a point for unintentional fouls, leading some in the online MMA community and media to rush to affix a “dirty fighter” tag to the up-and-coming prospect, as if accidental fouls don’t occur each and every week. Thankfully for the youngster, he made it through the Mitchell fight without incident, quieting the chatter from his previous two fights.
“I think that’s the first thing I told the commentators — I ran to them and said, ‘No fouls!’” laughed Saaiman, who completely out-classed Mitchell, earning the finish a little over three minutes into the opening round. "I was happy because I’m very critical of my performances, and you want to be known for your fights and your personality, and the type of conclusion people ran to after the first performances is not who I am.
“I also lost the privilege of complaining about a low blow in training as well, so I have no foot to stand on in training when I get kicked in the nuts,” he added with a smile. “It’s one of those things where we’re going to continue to get better.
“We’re fighting a very good opponent in Christian Rodriguez and we have a point to prove in this fight.”
A BIG MOMENT
Saturday’s matchup with Rodriguez not only represents a step up in competition for Saaiman, but also a couple critical firsts for the promising fighter.
In addition to being the first time he’ll compete on the main card of a UFC event, it’s also the first time he’s not sharing a fight card with Du Plessis, who fought alongside of him and similarly garnered victories at UFC 282, UFC 285, and UFC 290. But the surging middleweight put himself at the top of the list of contenders in the summer with a second-round stoppage win over former champ Robert Whittaker, which means it’s just Saaiman and his coaches in Las Vegas this time around.
“It is quite weird,” he said of fighting on a Fight Night event without Du Plessis also set to compete. “It feels a lot like the Contender Series fight.
“I have my head coach Morne Visser here; I have my assistant coach, Hennie Engelbrecht, here, and he’s like Bugs Bunny playing all the positions — he’s holding pads, he’s getting his *** kicked; he’s a mental coach, a good friend. Having them here is very close to the Dana White’s Contender Series dynamic, which I’m thoroughly enjoying.
“We knew at some point it was going to come to a point where Dricus and I were not going to be able to join each other on every single card, and he’s at that level now where he’s fighting for a world title or to defend his spot (as the No. 1 contender). We knew that this time was going to come.”
While Du Plessis’ success has been an obvious accelerant when it comes to separating the South African teammates, it’s also partially due to Saaiman’s success and obvious upside in the talent-rich bantamweight division.
It was apparent in his victory over Wang-Kim on the Contender Series last summer that Saaiman has a wealth of natural talent, sharp fundamentals, and tons of room to grow as he continues getting older. Each successful trip into the Octagon has only served to confirm those initial observations and projections, while also inching the bar for how high he could climb in the 135-pound ranks a little higher each time as well.
The talented emerging threat is confident that he’ll one day reach the top of the division, but knows time is on his side, and believes getting there when he’s at the peak of his powers is the most important thing.
“We’ve seen two champions come from the Contender Series and I do believe there will be more athletes coming out of the Contender Series showing massive success in the UFC, and I will be one of them,” began Saaiman. “I will soon be another Contender Series alumni raising a gold belt.
“Honestly, we can fight the best people in the world,” he answered when asked about his place in the division. “We can stand with them and we can beat them; but it’s all about peaking at the right time. As I said, I’m turning 23 in December, so I’m not even close to my physical peak yet. It’s about focusing on what’s good for our career — a long, active career.
“When I started with this sport, it was never a thing of getting in quickly, making some money, and getting out; I wanted to make this my living. This is all that I do — I eat, breathe, sleep fighting; I sold my PlayStation 5 to buy an air bike, so everything revolves around this, and I want to continue to do this for a very long time.
“I think I can beat anyone in the bantamweight division, but it’s about focusing on the task at hand, and for now, that’s Christian Rodriguez.”
THE TASK AT HAND (AND THE DESIRE TO THROW HANDS)
This matchup with Rodriguez was originally scheduled to take place in July at UFC 290, but an injury forced the 25-year-old Milwaukee native to withdraw from the contest, leading to Saaiman facing off with and handily defeating Mitchell instead.
Rodriguez also appeared on Dana White’s Contender Series, earning a victory, but not a contract following a unanimous decision win over Reyes Cortez in Season 5.
At the time, he was 21 years old, with the victory moving him to 6-0 as a professional, which prompted UFC President Dana White to tell Rodriguez that while he wasn’t leaving Las Vegas as a member of the UFC roster, his time would eventually come. One win and four months later, the Roufusport representative was called on for a short notice opportunity, fighting up a division against Jonathan Pearce.
While he landed on the wrong side of the results, Rodriguez gave an excellent account of himself against a fighter that had already earned consecutive wins since returning to the featherweight division and has since gone on to add two additional victories over established veterans to extend his overall winning streak to five.
Rodriguez returned to his natural bantamweight surroundings for his sophomore appearance, dispatching Joshua Weems in the first round to register his first UFC victory before delivering a breakout performance against highly regarded prospect Raul Rosas Jr. earlier this year at UFC 287 to collect a second straight win.
“Christian Rodriguez is very level-headed when it comes to his mental approach to fighting, and you could see that in his Rosas fight,” said Saaiman, offering his thoughts on his opponent. “He didn’t let anything around the fight get to him, and he was focusing on his technical ability, which I have a lot of admiration and respect for.
“I know he’s fundamentally very sound, he’s super-super-patient, and I think that’s his biggest strength and how he beat Rosas is with his patience. He was not overly excited or eager to finish the fight — he was just focused on neutralizing the biggest threats that Rosas threw at him. It’s very hard to camp for a guy like that.”
While Rodriguez has excelled on the ground in his first two UFC victories, Saaiman is hopeful that he’ll stick to some of the things he’s said in the preamble to this weekend’s punch-up and engage him on the feet, because “MSP” wouldn’t mind getting into an old-fashioned fist fight on Saturday evening in Las Vegas.
“I really hope he wants to keep it standing,” Saaiman said with a hopeful smile. “I’ve seen him mention in interviews that he likes this fight. He called me out on the Ariel Helwani Show (The MMA Hour), and he also mentioned that he would like to keep it standing, so let’s see what happens.
“No matter where the fight goes, we will have answers for him,” he added confidently. “We’re prepared wherever the fight may go, and we’ll get the finish wherever the fight goes.”
If that indeed comes to pass, it will put Saaiman in excellent position heading into his second year on the UFC and the start of the 2024 campaign.
Bantamweight is one of the deepest and most competitive divisions in the UFC, with an abundance of emerging names and capable veterans posted at each tier within the hierarchy, meaning there are plenty of appetizing potential matchups out there for South Africa’s “Most Savage Player.”
And a win this weekend would elevate Saaiman to the top of the list of young, ascending talents in the division, paving the way for bigger opportunities in the future.
“You talking about it makes me excited,” he said, eyes bright when I mentioned this feels like a chance to separate himself from the rest of the emerging pack in the 135-pound ranks. “We are both, I think, very motivated to go show out and show that we deserve to be at the top of the division.
“I’m focused on the steps — making weight, all the technical fundamental things we need to do right in this fight — but with that, we will have an outstanding performance. (When that happens), hopefully everyone gets to see what we already know: that we deserve to be here.”
Winning four straight in the UFC is difficult, regardless of anything else.
Doing it in a division as deep and talented as the bantamweight ranks ups the degree of difficulty, and accomplishing the feat in the span of 10 months, during your first year on the roster is largely unheard of at this level.
But that tells you what kind of prospect Cameron Saaiman is and what an incredibly bright future he has inside the Octagon.
