What To Know
- Zuffa Boxing 07 makes its UK debut, the first card outside the Meta APEX in Las Vegas, on Saturday featuring the cruiserweight division.
- Zuffa Boxing 07 airs in the U.S. on Paramount Plus, and in the UK on Sky Sports.
- Chris Billam-Smith fights in his hometown of Bournemouth against Canadian Ryan Rozicki, with the winner hoping to face Zuffa cruiserweight Jai Opetaia.
In the weekend’s major boxing card, Dana White takes Zuffa Boxing across the Atlantic for its official UK debut. Zuffa Boxing 07 features former cruiserweight champion Chris Billam-Smith of Bournemouth facing Ryan Rozicki of Nova Scotia, Canada on Billam-Smith’s home turf at the Bournemouth International Centre in Bournemouth, England.
Zuffa Boxing 07 airs live on Paramount Plus in the United States, with the main card getting underway at 4:30 p.m. ET/1:30 p.m. PT. Prelims air starting at 11:30 a.m. ET/8:30 a.m. PT.
Watch Friday’s Zuffa Boxing 07 ceremonial weigh-in.
Zuffa Boxing continues its high-level cruiserweight matchups with a clash of contenders at 200 pounds between former world champion Chris Billam-Smith, who returns home to take on Canadian knockout artist Ryan Rozicki.
Both Billam-Smith (21-2, 13 KOs) and Rozicki (21-1-1, 20 KOs) know the winner will go on to bigger opportunities, including against Zuffa’s cruiserweight star Jai Opetaia.
Zuffa Boxing 07 promoter Dana White said it’s precisely the type of matchup he promises from his new venture.
“You’ve got the skill, the power that these guys have, but more importantly the mentality going into this fight,” said White. “I expect the fights to be incredible, and I say it all the time: there is nothing better than live sports in the UK.”
Billam-Smith knows he must get past Rozicki to get his shot at Zuffa cruiserweight ruler Jai Opetaia of Australia, and he needs a statement-type win to ensure the matchup happens.
Billam-Smith has faced the more significant opposition with wins over Lawrence Okolie, Mateusz Masternak, Richard Riakporhe and former Zuffa Boxing title challenger Brandon Glanton, who lost to Opetaia in his last fight. CBS wants nothing less than a statement-making victory on home soil
Rozicki is fighting for the first time in the UK, and the intense Canadian plans to unleash his punching power against Billam-Smith to crush his hopes. Rozicki has been angling for a title fight opportunity without success. When the Zuffa offer beckoned, he didn’t hesitate.
After the weigh-in Rozicki said, “Nothing but respect to Chris, I’ve shown nothing but respect. I’m going to do what I do. He’s a great fighter. We’ll see what happens.” Rozicki knows he’s going into a hostile environment, but made it clear it doesn’t matter to him.
Billam-Smith Counting On The Hometown Crowd
Billam-Smith is leaning into the enthusiasm of his hometown fans. “It’s unbelievable. I love it. Boxing at home is an honor, and we know what this venue brings,” said Billam-Smith, who said he will probably know half the people in the venue by name.
“I’m glad they’re here. He’s got a great record. It’s a fight that gets me switched on, and that’s why you’ll see the best me.”
After an intense final faceoff, Billam-Smith shrugged it off as typical gameplay. “We’ll bring the win home again,” promised Billam-Smith.
Billam-Smith said what convinced him to make a change and embark on a new adventure as a Zuffa Boxing athlete.
“Just how valued I’ve felt,” he explained. “I felt so valued from the start of the conversations, and then arriving on fight week, I think all the fighters are really valued, and see what the setup is, and see how huge the whole machine is. You’ve got everything provided for you.”
Billiam-Smith managed to neutralize a big puncher in Richard Riakporhe with a smart gameplan, and he did the same in his last fight against Brandon Glanton.
“There’s no point in me just standing and trading with him and hoping I come out on top, because that gives him a much bigger chance of winning. But I’m also not going to be running the whole fight, and just looking to not get hit at all, you know? It’s going to happen at some point. So it’s just about being in the right positions at the right time, then picking my moments.”
Rosicki will try to employ short hooks and uppercuts on the inside. It’s in his best interests to make it a rough fight, calling Jack Dempsey his role model. Rosicki taunted Billam-Smith all week about running from him on Saturday.
Cruiserweight Co-Main Event: Jack Massey vs Chev Clarke
The co-main event of the evening will see an all-British cruiserweight battle as former world title challenger and ex-European and Commonwealth champion Jack “One Smack” Massey takes on 2020 Team GB Olympian and former British cruiserweight champion Chev “C4” Clarke.
Massey (23-3, 13 KOs) challenged Opetaia for his IBF World title October 2024 and fell short. He took a year away from the ring to rebuild and returned with a fourth-round stoppage victory over Ivan Gabriel Garcia of Argentina in November.
Massey hopes a win over Clarke (11-2, 8 KOs) will give him a rematch with Jai Opetaia. Clarke is rebuilding his way up through the division after losing to Viddal Riley in a fight for the British cruiserweight title.
Also On The Undercard From Bournemouth
British middleweights Lee Cutler of Bournemouth (15-2, 7 KOs) and Aaron Sutton (19-2, 3 KOs) will fight in a 163-pound catchweight bout scheduled for ten rounds.
Cutler lost a controversial technical decision defeat to Sam Eggington in April 2025 after an alleged headbutt left Eggington cut and unable to continue. Replay later showed that a punch caused the cut and, despite a rematch being ordered, Eggington opted out of it.
Cutler hopes to start his Zuffa Boxing era with a win against Sutton, who also looks to bounce back after falling losing to current British champion George Liddard in a title eliminator in May 2025.
Another middleweight matchup on the main card pits Stevie “The Hitman” McKenna of Ireland (15-1, 14 KOs) against “The Comeback Kid” Casey James Streeter (15-3-2, 6 KOs), scheduled for eight rounds.
McKenna returns from a 539-day layoff, the longest of his career, after his first loss in December 2024 to Lee Cutler by majority decision. He faces one of the few Americans on the Zuffa card, Casey James Streeter of Portland, Maine. Streeter saw a six-fight unbeaten run snapped when he lost out to prospect Leo Ruiz in his Zuffa Boxing debut in February. Now fighting at 160 pounds for the first time in his career, Streeter hopes the move up in weight serves him well.
The main card opens with a Scotland-versus-England catchweight clash as Sam Hickey of Scotland takes on Todd Tompkins of Birmingham in a battle of prospects at 163 pounds, both with four wins and no losses.
Hickey won a Commonwealth Games gold for Scotland in 2022 but lost out on representing Team GB in Paris when the middleweight division was not contested was removed from the Games.
Early Action: Heavyweight Slobberknocker
Worth a look in early action is a heavyweight matchup squarely in the slobberknocker category.
Harvey Dykes of England (7-0-1) hopes to hold onto his unbeaten record but he has a tough task ahead of him against two-time Olympic bronze medalist Ivan Dychko of Kazakhstan (15-1, 14 KOs). Dychko lost in the 2021 London Olympic semi-finals to Anthony Joshua. He is making his Zuffa boxing debut.
Dykes works full time as a trash collector, but he received a phone call a week out from the fight with the offer to appear on the Zuffa UK debut against Dychko. It would be a life-changing win should the 30-year-old play spoiler and survive ten rounds with the knockout specialist. He weighed in at 240 pounds, against 243 pounds for Dychko. Dykes will give up 5.5 inches in height to the 6-foot-9 Dychko.
Gayle Falkenthal is an award-winning boxing journalist with more than four dozen awards for both written and video coverage from the Boxing Writers Association of America, Society of Professional Journalists, and San Diego Press Club, where she is the past president. She is the only woman journalist who is a full voting member of the BWAA. She is the Boxing Editor for NY Fights based in San Diego, California.