Is Braxton Smith a former football player? Here's what you need to know about the UFC debutant's past

Heavyweight contender Braxton Smith is among the four fighters making their promotional debut at UFC 288 this weekend. The 33-year-old Texan is set to face UFC veteran Parker Porter in the opening fight of the prelims on May 6 at the Prudential Centre in Newark, New Jersey.

While Smith has a professional MMA record of 5-1, having fought perennial UFC heavyweight Chase Sherman in his maiden bout in 2014, 'The Beautiful Monster' started out as a football player. Playing as a running back since the age of 10, Smith was a part of the semi-professional team Capital City Bison before signing his first professional contract with Vermont Bucks in 2017.

Braxton Smith quit football in 2019 to focus on MMA full-time. The Texan returned to the cage in 2022 after a hiatus of eight years and is currently on a five-fight undefeated streak. Smith secured first-round knockouts over all of his last five opponents. He is also the former Peak Fighting heavyweight champion.

Interestingly, his monicker 'The Beautiful Monster' was inspired by his love for all things horror. The self-proclaimed horror nerd is a dedicated aficionado of the genre, and his favorite movie is the 1979 classic 'Halloween.' In an interview with MMA Mania, he stated:

"I’m reading all of the horror movie blogs, reading horror books. My living room is full of horror movie posters. It is 365 days a year of fandom for me. Horror movies and fighting, that is just me."

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Parker Porter predicts a win against Braxton Smith at UFC 288

UFC heavyweight Parker Porter is set to face promotional debutant Braxton Smith at UFC 288 in the final fight of his contract. Ahead of the highly-anticipated pay-per-view event, Porter recently revealed his gameplan to beat the Texan and potentially secure a new contract with a definitive victory.

Porter is coming off a brutal round-one knockout loss to Justin Tafa at UFC 284 and is currently on a two-fight losing slide. However, the 38-year-old American is keen to get back in the win column and has been doing his homework on Braxton Smith before they face off.

In an interview with Just Scrap Radio on BJPenn.com, Parker Porter claimed he's looking to extend the fight to test Smith's cardio and stated:

"Doing my research on him... This guy seems to want to get things done as quickly as possible... If he gasses himself out, we are going to see what kind of power he has in the later rounds... If it goes to the floor, I think I can get a submission or a ground-and-pound finish"