The “Suga Show” will be live and in full rainbow color when Sean O’Malley takes the Octagon opposite veteran Louis Smolka at UFC 264 on July 10.
Originally reported by Ryan Frederick of The Wrestling Observer, news of O’Malley’s second bout of 2021 was revealed on Monday. UFC 264 will of course be headlined by the high-stakes trilogy bout between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier. This bantamweight contest between twenty-somethings will be the first walk to the Octagon for Smolka this calendar year.
In his most recent contest, Louis Smoka was victorious over José Alberto Quiñónez, someone whom O’Malley also holds a victory over via the same method of TKO. Smolka will bring in a record of 17-7 and approximately six years of total experience in the UFC. Smolka and the UFC parted ways in 2017 after he had lost four consecutive fights.
Since then, he pulled together four consecutive wins on the regional scene to earn a second chance and has gone 2-2 during this second promotional run. This bout gives Smolka an opportunity to defeat a big-name prospect on a high-profile card and lay the groundwork for him to potentially enter the bantamweight rankings.
Sean O’Malley had hoped for a fight against Dominick Cruz or even Petr Yan, but he surely will be excited just to get right back to work on building up his blossoming résumé. O’Malley was stellar in his most recent contest against Thomas Almeida at UFC 260, and his last three victories inside the Octagon have been via TKO/KO. Smolka is yet to be knocked out in his professional career, so the confident O’Malley will have his work cut out for him if he wants to add Smolka’s name to his highlight reel.
With the addition of this bantamweight contest, the updated lineup for UFC 264 is as follows:
Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor
Gilbert Burns vs. Stephen Thompson
Sean O’Malley vs. Louis Smolka
Ryan Hall vs. Ilia Topuria
Greg Hardy vs. Tai Tuivasa
Jennifer Maia vs. Jessica Eye
Omari Akhmedov vs. Brad Tavares
Jerome Rivera vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov
Dricus Du Plessis vs. Trevin Giles
Who will go on to win their second straight fight in this bantamweight bout? Sean O’Malley or Louis Smolka?
