HIS OPPONENT HAS yet to be officially announced, but Paddy Holohan appears to be preparing for a clash with Louis Smolka at UFC Dublin.
The leading organisation in mixed martial arts will return to the 3Arena on Saturday, 24 October, when Holohan will be aiming for his third win in as many outings in 2015.
A meeting with Smolka would make for an interesting match-up as both fighters displayed impressive levels of grappling in their respective victories earlier this month.
Smolka looked excellent in an unanimous-decision defeat of Ireland’s Neil Seery at UFC 189 in Las Vegas on 11 July, before Holohan also got the nod from all three judges after a dominant display against Vaughan Lee at UFC Fight Night 72 in Glasgow seven days later.
Afterwards, Holohan issued a call-out to Smolka for his next bout and it’s one that makes sense. Both fighters currently own 3-1 UFC records and a place in the top 15 rankings is likely to be at stake for the winner… not that Holohan pays to attention to such rewards.
“The rankings and stuff, none of that really matters to me. I plan on fighting the guy at the top of the rankings so everyone else in between is just a cheque. That’s the way I approach it.
“Other people are talking about breaking into top 10s and top 15s, but these things don’t even exist in our mindset,” said Holohan, a product of Dublin’s Straight Blast Gym team.
“Just rip those rankings up. If you start looking at lists and stuff like that then you’re only as good as what other people say you are. I’m there to be the best so I’m not interested in numbers and ranking systems.”
As for a potential tussle with Louis Smolka in Dublin this autumn, Holohan believes that the 24-year-old Hawaiian wouldn’t enjoy a trip to the Irish capital.
He 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.”
It’s been a busy period for Paddy Holohan and his Straight Blast Gym colleagues, with all five of the team’s UFC stars having been in action in recent months. As a result, one of his own personal projects was temporarily put on hold. However, the opening of SBG in his native Tallaght is slowly getting closer on the horizon.
Holohan says he’s “fairly sure” the eagerly-anticipated opening will take place before the end of the year. For most MMA fighters, competing in the UFC represents the completion of a dream. That, however, has merely been a step along the way for Holohan, whose ultimate goal has always been to open a top-class training facility on the doorstep of where he grew up — and continues to reside.
The 27-year-old’s role as a coach at SBG is just as important as his fighting career, as evidenced by the fact that he was back in the gym to impart his knowledge for an MMA class just 72 hours after that recent win against Vaughan Lee.
“Yeah, that’s extremely important to me,” Holohan said. “The coaching is what pays the bills in the end. Not everyone is going to be a millionaire. People enjoy the waves but, when the waves crash, you need to build a beach for them to crash on.”
The arrival of an SBG gym in Tallaght will also be quite timely. The team’s main facility on the Naas Road — which they only upgraded to 18 months ago — is a constant hive of activity.
Following the recent success of UFC stars like Holohan, Conor McGregor, Cathal Pendred, Aisling Daly and Gunnar Nelson, demand is on the verge of exceeding supply when it comes to people interested in trying their hand at mixed martial arts.
Holohan: “I was speaking to John [Kavanagh, SBG head coach] the other day and the gym is nearly at capacity now, so it’s perfect timing for SBG Tallaght to open. John will be hands-on with that as well. SBG Tallaght will be the next stop. It’ll be the same programmes, same system, same coaching… teens, adults, beginners, advanced, everything.
“We’re thinking in terms of 10 years down the line; not just opening up and seeing what happens. We know what’s going to happen. There’s no doubt in our minds about where this is going.
“In 10 years there’s going to be another wave coming out and we’re going to create people like me, Ais, Cathal, Gunni and Conor, from scratch… well, maybe not Conor because he’s a very unique individual. But we’ll still try and find one, that’s for sure.”
