Preview: UFC on ESPN 36 ‘Blachowicz vs. Rakic’

Bantamweights

Davey Grant (13-6, 4-5 UFC) vs. Louis Smolka (17-8, 8-8 UFC)

ODDS: Grant (-290), Smolka (+230)

Grant’s late-career renaissance has been a pleasure to watch, particularly since the Englishman has been one of the UFC’s most reliably exciting fighters in recent years. After falling short to Chris Holdsworth in “The Ultimate Fighter 18” final back in 2013, Grant’s UFC career seemed absolutely cursed. Injuries kept him out of action for over two years, and after a brief stretch of health, Grant was out for nearly two more years, resulting in “Dangerous Davey” only making it to the cage twice from 2014 to 2017. However, Grant has finally maintained a regular schedule from 2019 onward and has proven to be an effective, if unorthodox, scrapper, consistently pressing the action and looking impossible to finish against the likes of Marlon Vera and Adrian Yanez in recent fights. Grant figures to have a willing dance partner in Smolka, who has some things to prove coming into this bout. “Da Last Samurai” was a fringe title contender at flyweight back in 2016, at which point Smolka suffered what was then a huge upset loss to Brandon Moreno and went on a losing streak that led to his release. Smolka conquered some personal demons while outside of the UFC and quickly earned his return to the roster up at bantamweight, participating in consistently exciting fights ever since. Never the best athlete, Smolka has found effectiveness by doubling down on aggression, which was helped by the fact that he had never been knocked out in his career—until Vince Morales absolutely starched him about two minutes into their fight in December. Still somehow just 30 years old, Smolka has had both a long career and a hard life, so it would not entirely be a shock if his chin has suddenly betrayed him; if it has, then it is unclear how he will be able to reinvent his approach to circumvent that issue. If Smolka can hold up over any length of time, this figures to be a war that is also a winnable fight for the Hawaiian. Grant seems to have gotten past this point, but he does have a history of being too aggressive on the mat and getting himself in trouble, something that Smolka can clearly exploit. With both men pressing the action and Grant having a knack for striking from unorthodox angles, the bet is that the Brit can score something big in short order. The pick is Grant via first-round knockout.

Blachowicz vs. Rakic
Cutelaba vs. Spann
Grant vs. Smolka
Chookagian vs. Ribas
Camacho vs. Torres
Hadley vs. Nascimento
The Prelims