Hawaii’s Louis Smolka overcame a game Richie Vaculik today to comeback and score a third round TKO stoppage over the Aussie. The flyweight encounter featured on the preliminary portion of the card and was streamed live on UFC Fight Pass.
UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs Bisping took place on Nov. 8 at the Allphones Arena in Sydney, Australia.
Vaculik connected first with a left hand which forced Smolka to look for a takedown. He was unsuccessful however, as the Aussie fighting in front of his homecrowd did well to keep it upright. Vaculik continued to pressure Smolka with strikes, landing the cleaner of the two fighters. It wasn’t long and Smolka was bloodied up. Smolka showed no sign of backing down however and continued to throw combinations of his own. The fight hit the canvas not long after as Vaculik ducked under a kick from Smolka and the round ended with the Aussie in top position.
The second frame began with both fighters looking to land combinations, both had some success, a knee from Smolka and an uppercut from the Aussie land. Once again, Vaculik gets it to the ground and works for a rear-naked choke. Smolka did well to roll and wind up in top position. Not for long however, with the Aussie standing soon after. Smolka looked to attack the outside leg of Vaculik from there. The TUF: Smashes veteran continued with combinations of his own.
The third round didn’t last long with Smolka stopping Vaculik with left step-up side-kick to the head which he followed up with a number of right hands.
Smolka, a late replacement, avoids back-to-back losses and moves his record to 8-1. Vaculik drops to 10-3 (UFC 1-2).
Results:
Main Card:
- Luke Rockhold vs Michael Bisping
- Ross Pearson vs Al Iaquinta
- Robert Whittaker vs Clint Hester
- Soa Palelei vs Walt Harris
Preliminary Card:
- Jake Matthews vs Vagner Rocha
- Anthony Perosh vs Guto Inocente
- Dylan Andrews vs Sam Alvey
- Louis Smolka def Richie Vaculik via TKO (Strikes), Rd 3, 0:18
- Chris Clements def Vik Grujic via TKO (Strikes), Rd 1, 3:06
- Daniel Kelly def Luke Zachrich via Submission (kimura), Rd 1, 4:27
- Marcus Brimage def Jumabieke Tuerxun via KO (Head Kick), Rd 1, 2:58
