The Thursday Throwback: UFC Fight Night Dublin: Holohan vs. Smolka
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| Josh Hedges - Zuffa LLC On this day in 2015, Louis Smolka finishes Paddy Holohan in Dublin. |
Current UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic was also set to feature in Dublin, in a title eliminator against Ben Rothwell, before he was forced from the event, just ten days before fight night. Up steps Paddy Holohan and Louis Smolka, in a three-round main event to save the card. In what proved to be his last ever fight, Holohan was submitted via rear-naked choke in the second round. The South Dublin County Councillor announced his retirement the following year, after he was diagnosed with the extremely rare blood disorder, Factor XIII deficiency. October 24th. 2015 not only marked Holohan's final appearance in mixed-martial-arts, but also the final time the UFC Octagon landed in Dublin. Tallaght native Holohan has since gone on to kick start a successful podcast series, titled 'Paddy Holohan's No Shame Podcast'.
KSW interim lightweight champion 'Stormin' Norman Parke featured in a bumped up co-main event meeting with the always game Reza Madadi, with both men exchanging back-and-forth blows over the course of fifteen minutes. Parke landed his final win the promotion that night, before going on to meet with fierce rival Mateusz Gamrot twice. In his most recent outing, the Bushmills native scored a split decision victory over Marcin Wrzosek to claim the interim 155-pound title in KSW.
One-time UFC welterweight title challenger and upcoming UFC 244 co-headliner, Darren Till featured on the main card, in a huge matchup with Danish favorite Nicolas Dalby. In a majority draw, Till and Dalby earned Fight of the Night honors. 'The Gorilla' returns to the Octagon next weekend, as he makes his middleweight debut against Kelvin Gastelum, while Nicolas Dalby overcame Alex 'Cowboy' Oliveira in his UFC return last month.
In our opening main card bout, flyweight mainstay Neil Seery grabbed a second round guillotine finish of Jon Delos Reyes, to score his third and final victory in the promotion. After a 2017 loss to Alexandre Pantoja, the popular Seery hung up his gloves.
UFC Singapore co-main event feature Stevie Ray took featured prelim placement against France's Mikael Lebout, where he managed a rather clear-cut unanimous decision as he moved to 3-0 in the organization. TUF alumni and Straight Blast Gym Ireland linchpin Aisling Daly also picked up a unanimous decision, as she bested Ericka Almeida on all three judges scorecards. The victory over Almeida proved to be Daly's final professional fight, as a brain scan brought knowledge to an abnormality as a result of a prior brain haemorrhage.
Polish contender Krzysztof Jotko handed current KSW middleweight best Scott Askham his second promotional loss, as he lodged a razor-thin split decision victory. Stocky welterweight strikers Tom Breese and former Cage Warriors 170 pound champion Cathal Pendred threw down, with Birmingham's Breese improving to 2-0 in the promotion with a late opening round knockout. The following month, Pendred announced his retirement from mixed-martial-arts.
The gritty Darren Elkins scored a decision win over current ACB featherweight Robert Whiteford in our second bout of the evening. Elkins, one of the most wily competitors at 145 pounds, has dropped his last three fights in a row, after an impressive six fight win streak. In our event opener, South African submission specialist Garreth McLellan managed an knockout over Bubba Bush, with just two seconds remaining in the fight.
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