Haiden Deegan became more marmite than ever on Saturday night after doing everything possible to win the SMX title against Jo Shimoda, until a move to put Shimoda down resulted in him crashing himself and breaking his collarbone!
Now, Deegan looks likely to miss his first chance at representing team USA at home in two weeks time. That move didn’t just cost himself, it cost his USA teammates a key part of a team that was expected to win the biggest race of the year on home turf especially with MX2 being so key.
After three years of calling out his rivals, aggressive moves and plenty of titles, it all seemed to catch up with Deegan in the last two weeks.
Levi Kitchen’s move led to that move on Shimoda and that led to him probably being out of team USA, a domino effect for a rider who, despite all the talk and aggression, always seemed to get away with it until the last two Saturday nights. Finally, the grudge bearing rivals had finally had enough, and it cost Deegan literally hundreds of thousands of pounds in SMX prize money and his spot on team USA, one day after he had revealed his bike and kit for the prestigious event.
Deegan told us at the A1 press conference that he would continue his talk in the 450 class but will what happened on Saturday night make him think twice? We will have to wait and see on that one.
While Deegan may have a few more fans against him, there is no doubt he is the story and the marmite character he has become certainly brings eyes to sport that were not there before. And even for long-term fans, Deegan evokes emotion when you watch him, fans love to see him win or love to see him fail.
😂 @joshimoda #SMX #SMXFinal #Honda pic.twitter.com/hxDnpSyy1A
— SuperMotocross (@supermotocross) September 21, 2025
Deegan is the drama and love him or loathe him, it is great for the sport and it will probably only get more intense in a 450 class currently dominated by Jett Lawrence but he and all the multi-time champs in the premier division won’t wait three years to get their revenge on Deegan like the 250 class, it will be battle on from day one.
Check out Jett Lawrence comments as exhibit A… he has already made enemies!
Jett when asked about a potential rivalry with Haiden in the 450 class 👀 #SMX #SMXFinal pic.twitter.com/OXQjE4SXY8
— SuperMotocross (@supermotocross) September 21, 2025
