Louis Smolka’s finish of Ryan MacDonald at UFC Vancouver was no lucky punch, and he broke down the double straight set-up he used following the fight.
Vancouver, B.C. — Flyweight-turned-bantamweight Louis Smolka returned to the win column on Saturday at UFC Vancouver, picking up a TKO of Ryan MacDonald that marked one of Smolka’s best performances to date. Now in his second run with the UFC, Smolka (16-6) was simply beaming following the win, as well he should be.
The set-up, he explained to reporters including Cageside Press, was something he’d been hitting all through fight camp. Smolka addressed that, and his preparation for the fight, after the bout.
“I’m just so happy I got that win. I wanted that sh*t so bad. I gave a lot for this fight. I gave everything for this,” he exclaimed post-fight at the Rogers Arena. “We went up to Big Bear [in California], we trained away from my family for a while. I did not miss a practice, I killed myself day in and day out.”
Continuing, Smokla said “I ate all the clean meals I was supposed to eat, I ate extra even though I didn’t like that way they tasted, I kept eating. I’m going up in weight right now, so I’m having to eat more than I used to. I think my stomach shrunk from all the years trying to make 25.”
In the end, the sacrifices paid off, in the form of Smolka’s first finish with his hands. “That felt amazing. Russel Doane used to tell me there’s no better feeling, and that f*cker’s right.”
As to the set-up for the finish, “that scenario, the double straight to the hook, was something that I’d been landing all camp. I’ve been hitting that. There’s kind of like layers to it. We also had the body shot that we were banking on, we had the leg kick — I never really got to use the leg kicks too much, it ended up being more body. But that was one of the things we had planned out.”
“I was throwing the double straight almost like a double jab, just kind of flicking it out there. It’s a really unique thing to see,” he continued. “You’re not really going to see that too much, and people will look at it, and they’ll just freeze for a second. And in that split second of them being frozen, I can close the distance with the left hook. It’d been working all camp, and it landed tonight, and I’m so happy it did.”
With the win, Smolka is 2-1 in his second run with the promotion. He’s not sure when he’ll be back, but added that “I’d like to fight again before the end of the year.”
Watch the full UFC Vancouver (UFC Fight Night 158) post-fight press scrum with Louis Smolka above!
