A series of unfortunate circumstances ravaged Saturday’s UFC Fight Night Event at 3Arena in Dublin, but don’t expect to hear any complaints from 24-year-old flyweight prospect Louis Smolka.
Fighting behind enemy lines and headlining his first UFC main event, Smolka (10-1) earned the biggest win of his career, submitting Ireland’s Patrick Holohan (12-2-1) via rear-naked choke at 4:09 of the second round. The flyweight contest was promoted to the card’s headliner on Wednesday, after injuries to lightweight Joseph Duffy and heavyweight Stipe Miocic nixed the originally scheduled main and co-main.
Smolka, who fights out of Hawaii Elite, showed remarkable composure, as he improved his UFC record to 4-1. He fought off several submission attempts in the first round, before eventually settling in and hurting Holohan on the feet. In the final sequence, Smolka landed a few hard shots during a scramble and jumped to full mount as Holohan fell to the canvas. Holohan eventually turned and gave up his back to avoid taking punches, which led to the tap. It’s the first time the Irishman has been submitted in his career.
It’s the third consecutive win for Smolka, and his first finish since he submitted Josh Sampo in his UFC debut in July 2014.
“This was surreal,” said Smolka in the cage immediately after. “I know (the Irish crowd) might hate me right now, but I love you guys.”
The adrenaline of unexpectedly headlining a card in his hometown might have worked against Holohan, as he started fast but appeared to fade slightly after early grappling exchanges. An SBG teammate of interim featherweight champion Conor McGregor, Holohan secured a bodylock takedown in the opening 30 seconds of the bout and caught Smolka in a guillotine moments later.
The Hawaiian flyweight was resilient on the floor though, working out of the guillotine and a rear-naked later in the round. He escaped a nightmarish position late in that frame, turning into Holohan who had taken his back and locked in a body triangle. Before the round ended, Smolka landed a few hard punches and elbows on the feet, as Holohan’s hands started to hang near his chest.
Holohan secured a body triangle again in the second round and landed a few short punches from the back, but Smolka appeared to have more in the tank and worked out of the position relatively quickly. Standing, Smolka had a clear advantage. Immediate cageside stats showed Smolka out-landed Holohan in total strikes, 78-to-33.
It was a bittersweet result for Holohan, who opened the card the last time the UFC was in Dublin.
“I never said I’m the best, I never said I was born gifted — but when I do come out, I’ll give you everything,” Holohan said. “It was a real good fight. I enjoyed it. This week has been crazy. I started off here opening the card, to becoming the main card. Guess how many times I was asked? None. I woke up and found out in bed that I was the co-main event. Then I found out I was the main event. Hat’s off to Louis, he came and did the job in my backyard.”