South Dakota was treated to an absolute cracker of a midweek card when the UFC visited Sioux Falls.
The last time we saw Louis Smolka he was playing the part of party pooper in Dublin with an impressive win over Paddy Holohan, and again he had to face boos as he fought a home-town guy in Ben Nguyen. Smolka again emerged victorious, and would have been good value for the fight of the night bonus has Tony Ferguson vs Lando Vannata not been so damn entertaining.
That's why we feel Smolka vs Nguyen needs more credit. The first round was incredibly fun to watch and had absolutely everything you could want from a fight. Grappling, more submission attempts than you could shake a stick at, and a bit of a beatdown from top position as well.
You won't see a more back-and-forth grappling battle all year, five minutes of fun.
Awesome. Absolutely awesome.
Smolka would continue his strong finish into the second round, when Nguyen's corner threw in the towel to stop their fighter who refused to give up taking more punches.
Hats off to both fighters, that was a cracking fight.
