In the last post I covered the three main fights on the UFC Fight Night Dublin Card for October 24th at the Three Arena. In this post I am going to preview Jobstown native, Paddy 'The Hooligan' Holohan (12-1-1) as he takes on Hawaiian, Louis Smolka (9-1) in a three round flyweight (125lbs) fight.
Louis Smolka will be a familiar name to Irish fans following his victory over Irish man and fan favourite Neil Seery at UFC 189 in July. The Hooligan is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Vaughan Lee at UFC Glasgow.
Holohan and Smolka have bounced back following the first professional loss for each man in 2014 with both men now on two fight winning streaks. Smolka looked very impressive with his third round TKO victory over Richie Vaculik in Australia last November.
He seemed to struggle on the feet against Neil Seery at UFC 189 but used his superior ground game to get the win over Team Ryano’s Seery by unanimous decision. Paddy comes off the back of a dominant unanimous decision win over former training partner Vaughan Lee. Paddy showed some impressive Jiu Jitsu skills in the Lee fight and was unlucky not to sink in a rear naked choke finish in the first round. Holohan continued to dominate in rounds two and three giving him a 30-27 victory over Lee.
Both Holohan and Smolka are seasoned grappling artists with a combined total of twelve victories by submission between the two men, (Eight for Paddy, Four for Smolka) it is safe to say this fight will take place and most likely end on the canvas. Both men did have considerable size advantages over their previous opponents and used it in both cases to their advantages, so it will be interesting to see how both men deal with fighting someone with a similar height and reach advantage.
With the support of Dublin behind the Hooligan, it is difficult to see the win going anywhere but to the SBG Ireland man. However that said, Smolka defeated Neil Seery in a majority Irish crowd in the MGM Grand Garden Arena at UFC 189, perhaps the Hawaiian wont buckle under the pressure fighting in somebody else’s back yard and the relentless ole ole chanting.
Originally posted on the MMA Andy Blog on 18th August 2015.