A FOURTH IRISHMAN looks set to feature at UFC Fight Night 77 at Dublin’s 3Arena on Saturday, 24 October.
Headlined by Joseph Duffy versus Dustin Poirier, the event is also in line to include a flyweight bout between American flyweight Louis Smolka (9-1) and Ireland’s Paddy Holohan (12-1-1).
The news was first reported by MMAFighting.com. A source later confirmed to The42 that the fight has been agreed, with an official announcement expected shortly.
Holohan, who hails from Tallaght, will be aiming for his third consecutive victory, having secured back-to-back wins over Shane Howell and Vaughan Lee already in 2015.
Smolka will also bring a pair of successive victories to Dublin. The 24-year-old Hawaiian rebounded from last year’s loss to former title challenger Chris Cariaso by defeating Richie Vaculik and — last month at UFC 189 in Las Vegas — Irish veteran Neil Seery.
Speaking to The42 recently about the possibility of facing Smolka in his hometown, Holohan said: “I’m going to be trying to knock him out. If we end up grappling, I’ll be trying to knock him out on the ground as well. But Louis is a good guy, he’s a good scrapper.
“But he’s young. I don’t think he’ll be ready for what to expect in Dublin. The Dublin fans will have a good bit of fun with Louis, winding him up. He will take every bit of Dublin bait there is. As soon as he gets to that fight he’s going to be exhausted, I think.”
Tickets for UFC Dublin are due to go on sale from Friday, 4 September. With more fights still to be announced, this is how the card currently looks:
Joseph Duffy vs. Dustin Poirier
Norman Parke vs. Reza Madadi
Cathal Pendred vs. Tom Breese
Paddy Holohan vs. Louis Smolka
Scott Askham vs. Krzysztof Jotko
Bubba Bush vs. Garreth McLellan
Originally published at 16.41
