Injuries ripped apart the top portion of the UFC Fight Night Dublin card, and quite honestly, most of the event was disappointing. However, the makeshift main event was awesome.
In a fight that could have doubled as a grappling instructional video, Louis "The Last Samurai" Smolka defeated Paddy "The Hooligan" Holohan via second-round submission with a rear-naked choke. You may read that description and think "no thanks, I'll pass," but this was no ordinary grappling match.
Fox Sports' Ariel Helwani tweeted this before the fight was even over:
If youre a fan of MMA grappling and you're not watching this fight, you should def watch it. Dizzying stuff. Hooligan looks to be in trouble
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) October 24, 2015
Holohan came into the bout as one of the unquestioned kings of the ground game in the sport.
He put his full arsenal of transitions and submission positions on display. Unfortunately for him, Smolka had an answer for every move—and then some.
Smolka calmly escaped every attempt to set up a submission. He displayed a sick amount of flexibility and genius-level knowledge of the ground game. He appeared to wear Holohan out—mentally and physically.
According to UFC.com, Holohan never actually attempted a submission. That's a little debatable but still a credit to Smolka as he countered out of harm's way so quickly that Holohan was never able to get to the second stage of his game plan.
A telling moment of the fight came at the end of the first round. In a rare moment where the two men engaged in a stand-up exchange, Smolka landed the cleaner shots with hooks and two nasty elbows.
The shots took a bit out of Holohan and set up his demise in the next round.
In the second frame, Holohan again took the fight to the ground—only with a little less vigor than before. Smolka countered the first three attempts to put him in a bad spot (a rear-naked choke and two omoplatas) and spun to wind up on top of the exhausted Irishman in front of his hometown fans.
Shortly after raining down some elbows that hurt Holohan, the latter gave up his back, and Smolka sunk in the choke to force the quick submission.
When the fight was over, per Helwani, Smolka addressed the fans in attendance and acknowledged their disapproval of his work against one of their favorite sons:
Subdued crowd right now. Smolka to the crowd: "it was surreal. I know you guys might hate me right now, but I love you."
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) October 24, 2015
As hard as the Dublin crowd cheers for its fighters, the Irish fans are among the most respectful to the winners. They didn't obstruct Smolka's post-fight interview and seemed to give credit where it was due.
Sporting a visibly swollen left eye, Holohan was candid and passionate when he spoke to his followers, per Helwani:
Hooligan very emotional: I never said I was the best, I never said I was gifted … but when I do come out, I give you's everything.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) October 24, 2015
When people discuss the top flyweight contenders, rarely do you hear Smolka's name. That might change. His skill level is ridiculously high—though I'm not sure he has the speed for John Dodson, Kyoji Horiguchi or Joseph Benavidez, let alone champion Demetrious Johnson.
Here are the rest of the card's results:
| Prelims | |||
| Matchup | Weight Class | Results | |
| Bubba Bush vs. Garreth McLellan | Middleweight | McLellan by third-round TKO | |
| Darren Elkins vs. Rob Whiteford | Featherweight | Elkins by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28x2) | |
| Cathal Pendred vs. Tom Breese | Welterweight | Breese by first-round TKO | |
| Scott Ashkam vs. Krzysztof Jotko | Middleweight | Jotko by split decision (29-28x2, 28-29) | |
| Aisling Daly vs. Ericka Almeida | Women's Strawweight | Daly by decision (30-27, 29-27, 29-28) | |
| Stevie Ray vs. Mickael Lebout | Lightweight | Ray by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27x2) | |
| Main Card | |||
| Matchup | Weight Class | Results | |
| Neil Seery vs. Jon Delos Reyes | Flyweight | Seery by second-round submission (guillotine) | |
| Nicolas Dalby vs. Darren Till | Welterweight | Draw (29-28, 28-28x2) | |
| Norman Parke vs. Reza Madadi | Lightweight | Parke by unanimous decision (30-27x3) | |
| Paddy Holohan vs. Louis Smolka | Flyweight | Smolka by second-round submission (rear-naked choke) |
UFC Fight Pass Broadcast
Best Performances
Breese with Ease
Cathal Pendred is tough, but he's criminally overrated. That said, Tom Breese looked every bit the superstar prospect he's been made out to be. The 6'3" welterweight was smooth, poised and completely unaffected by Pendred's experience or the rabid Irish fans.
On Saturday, the 24-year-old used next-level boxing to pick Pendred apart early. Within a minute, his nose appeared to be broken, and Breese was adding more damage by the second.
A body kick and punching combination dropped and finished Pendred in the very first round. When it was over, Mike Bohn of USA Today and Damon Martin of Fox Sports had observations and ideas for Breese's next opponent:
Cathal Pendred's nose was seriously jacked up as he walked past press row. Tom Breese's handiwork looked like it hurt.
— Mike Bohn (@MikeBohnMMA) October 24, 2015
If Tim Means beats John Howard, I'd like to see him versus Tom Breese. That would be fire #UFCDublin
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) October 24, 2015
Breese vs. Tim Means could offer a surplus of elite-level striking. Hopefully, that scrap takes place in the near future.
Seery Chokes out Delos Reyes
Neil Seery came out looking for a fight, and he got one. He was up to the challenge as he was able to stop Jon Delos Reyes via second-round submission.
Delos Reyes came forward the entire fight—despite getting the worst of most of the exchanges. He slightly altered his approach as he started to shoot for double-leg takedowns. Seery would counter in the first round with a sell-out guillotine attempt.
Delos Reyes escaped the first attempt, but he wouldn't be as fortunate in the second round. Seery was waiting on Delos Reyes to charge him, and when he did, the Irishman again went hard for the guillotine.
This time he got it as Delos Reyes' head went careening toward the mat. Seery squeezed tightly and forced the tap from his opponent. Sherdog.com complimented Seery's persistence:
#UFCDublin Seery went to the guillotine repeatedly throughout, finally locked a deep one up late in R2. Nifty stuff. https://t.co/GKOX1RQy07
— Sherdog.com (@sherdogdotcom) October 24, 2015
Epic Battle
Darren Till owned the first two rounds of his fight against Nicolas Dalby, but the third was a totally different story. Dalby rallied back with strikes and pressure.
He dominated the round and influenced two of the three judges to score the fight a draw. Martin and others in the MMA community surprisingly applauded the majority-draw decision:
One of those rare times where I really applaud a draw. Definitely the right call in Dalby vs. Till #UFCDublin
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) October 24, 2015
I'm not sure a round should be scored 10-8 when there are no knockdowns, but there was no doubt Dalby controlled almost every second of the final frame.
When it was over, Till behaved as if he had injured his left shoulder. It's unclear when the injury took place, but he definitely looked like a different fighter in the final round. A rematch may be in order to settle this one.
What's Next
On November 7, Dan Henderson will get another shot at Vitor Belfort. Back in November 2013, Belfort became the first man to defeat Dan Henderson via strikes when he finished the fellow legend with a head kick.
It avenged a 2006 loss to Henderson back when both men were competing in Pride. Their third battle will headline UFC Fight Night Brazil from Sao Paulo. In the co-main event, Glover Teixeira will take on Patrick Cummins. Let's just hope all of the primary competitors make it to the event in one piece.
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