Louis Smolka – On the Cusp

Louis 'Da Last Samurai' Smolka has gained a lot of attention since joining the UFC ranks in January 2014. Last July his hand was raised for the third time inside the Octagon in four tests, as he saw off Irish veteran and former Cage Warriors champion Neil '2 Tap' Seery in front of the passionate Irish support who primarily travelled to Las Vegas for Conor McGregor's UFC 189 title bout.

The Hawaiian has improved with every outing. Despite Seery's boxing causing him trouble throughout their three rounds contest, Smolka's intricate grappling stifled the assaults of his counterpart, which was enough to win him the nod on the judges' scorecards after three rounds.

The win was thought to be enough to put Smolka into UFC's top 15 rankings and although the young flyweight was pleased with his performance he doesn't put too much value into the views of others.

"I felt pretty good after the performance, I would've liked to get the finish, but fuck, Neil was tough," recalls Smolka. "I can go over different situations in my head and think about different things that could've happened, but overall I was pleased with the performance. I did my best to stick to the game plan.

"I don't really care if people are highlighting me as a guy to watch in the future or whatever, it's not something that I should pay a lot of attention to. Just because people think you're good or whatever, it doesn't make you special. I have to keep working hard and not take things for granted, there is no point in assuming I'm something that I'm not."

Unfortunately, Smolka is speaking from experience. After his successful UFC debut against Alptekin Özkılıç, admittedly 'Da Last Samurai' got a little caught up in his own headlights. Even the prospect of fighting a top ranked flyweight with over double his experience couldn't sway Smolka's feelings of superiority. Such was his confidence that the 24-year-old's preparation for his sophomore UFC outing against Cris Cariaso suffered, but it seems the situation has acted as a significant learning curve for the flyweight.

"I made that mistake when I fought Chris Cariaso," Smolka admits. "I thought I was the man, I came into the UFC undefeated, I got a real dominant win over a really good guy and then they gave me a ranked guy. I was being a bit cocky at the time, I thought I was going to smash through him and because of that I barely trained for that fight.

"I didn't even do strength and conditioning for that fight. I went in too cocky, I didn't even watch my weight or diet properly. I didn't really do anything, I just thought 'I'm going to kill this guy'. I was laughing before it saying the only thing he could do was outpoint me and then he ended up doing just that. I was so mad at myself, man."

Smolka is one of the most highly touted fighters coming out of Hawaii at the moment. Given that his fellow fighter from The Aloha State, Max Holloway, has recently called for UFC to hold an event on their home soil, Smolka gave his thoughts on a potential event in his homeland.

"Everybody in Hawaii is so supportive of all of their athletes. When it comes to fight time everybody is stopping you and wishing you good luck. The whole community really gets behind you.

"I can remember when BJ would fight the whole island would shut down. Literally, nobody was doing anything else once he stepped into the Octagon. The whole place was like a ghost town. People would have big barbeques where everyone on the different streets would come together to watch the fight. Right now, we aren't on that level but we're definitely getting there.

"It would mean a lot to me to fight in Hawaii, of course. It would be like we were carving out our place in history if UFC ever brought a card to Hawaii. We have a long line of fighters that have come out of this part of the world and we have a really rich history when it comes to MMA. To be on that card, even if I wasn't on the card, to have a UFC event would just be so big. If I could be a part of it, even in a small way, that would mean the world to me."

October 24 will see Smolka go into the "the biggest fight" of his career when he meets another surging flyweight in Paddy Holohan. Smolka knows not to take the Irishman lightly and considers 'The Hooligan' to be in a similar situation as himself – a win for either of the fighters could thrust them into the UFC's flyweight rankings and potentially the title conversation given the dominance of Demetrious Johnson.

"I would place him exactly where I see myself, we're both fringe contenders," highlights Smolka. "We've both got a bit of hype surrounding us, people are beginning to take notice after we've taken a couple of wins and I think we're both on the cusp of being ranked and being in the conversation for getting big fights and big names.

"We're right on the brink of breaking through, we're right there. This is a really dangerous fight for me and it's an important one too. This is probably the biggest fight of my career. It's sink or swim time, I'm going to find out if I can actually be a contender or if I'm going to be stuck fighting unranked guys for the foreseeable future."