Louis Smolka spent a couple rounds getting primarily batter by Richie Vaculik before he decided, apparently, that enough sufficed.
Unable to completely land a few fancy-looking head begins the first two rounds, Smolka (8-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) landed a step-in side kick with a heel right to Vaculik’s (10-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) head, and 18 seconds into the third round he had a TKO triumph.
The welterweight bout belonged to the initial card these days’s UFC Fight Night55 occasion at Allphones Arena in Sydney. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass.
Smolka kicked high to open, however it functioned as more of a feeling-out kick. However Vaculik simply 30 seconds in landed a huge set of punches, and appeared to have Smolka injured early. He let off, then quickly returned with more. Smolka resolved it and attempted to land some front kicks that missed. Vaculik kept pushing forward attempting to capture Smolka with something, and he did consistently.
But Smolka fired back, too, and midway through the round he was right in the pocket– bloodied, but tossing. Thirty seconds later on, he found a home for 2 rights– however Vaculik brought him to his knees by kicking his legs out. Smolka got back to his feet and attempted to answer with a knee that brought some oohs from the crowd, but didn’t do much to stop Vaculik. A Smolka high kick was evaded by Vaculik, and he utilized it to take Smolka down with 55 seconds left. Vaculik passed to side control, and he almost got a guillotine choke in throughout a scramble. However he couldn’t hold it.
Vaculik landed an early jab as Smolka landed a right uppercut, and after that he needed to obstruct a left high kick from the Hawaiian. Smolka attempted to get within, however Vaculik made him pay with a combination. And when Smolka once again searched for an axe kick, Vaculik took him down to the canvas and pursued a rear-naked choke. He couldn’t get it under the chin, however, and Smolka reversed to get on top. The fight wasn’t on the ground for long. Back on the feet, it was Vaculik who continued to be just a step ahead as Smolka’s face kept revealing it.
Smolka landed a step-in side kick rapidly into the 3rd round. Vaculik was up to the canvas in a stack, and Smolka jumped all over him. He chose the kill, and he got it. He needed 9 punches on the ground prior to referee John Sharp stopped the fight.
“I figured I was losing going into the 3rd round, and (my) coach told me I needed to complete him,” Smolka said. “We had actually been dealing with those side kicks a fair bit because we saw he might be prone to them. The time was right and I just released it. I hope next I’m able to battle on the exact same card as my Hawaiian comrade Russell Doane.”.
Smolka is back in the win column after a May loss to Chris Cariaso. Vaculik now has dropped 2 of his previous 3.
