Kapolei’s Louis Smolka dropped his third consecutive UFC fight in a unanimous decision against Tim Elliot to kick off the televised portion of UFC Fight Night: Kansas City on Saturday evening at the Sprint Center.
Elliot (15-7-1, 3-5 UFC) won 30-27 on all three judges’ scorecards in a fight closer than the final scores indicated.
Smolka (11-4, 5-4) was taken down 11 times over the 15-minute fight but never stayed on his back for long. He repeatedly was able to scramble back to his feet but couldn’t keep the fight standing for long as Elliot continued to take Smolka down at will.
“He’s good. He’s squirmy,” said Elliot, ranked No. 9 in the UFC at 125 pounds. “I knew he was going to be tough.”
Smolka, who is ranked No. 12, has now lost three fights in a row over the past seven months.
Elliot controlled Smolka for 8 minutes, 58 seconds of the fight, according to UFC fight metrics.
He landed 87 of 126 total strikes and 37 significant strikes. Smolka, who held control for 2:17, landed 34 total strikes and 31 significant strikes.
“Every time Elliot switched to southpaw I walked right into his overhand left,” Smolka said. “I couldn’t really stop his takedowns. I don’t know what I can take away from this, it’s honestly too soon after the fight.”
Elliot, a 2-to-1 favorite entering the fight, scored his first takedown just five seconds into the bout.
Late in the round, after escaping a kimura attempt and a guillotine choke, Elliot landed an elbow from side control that opened up a cut on the right side of Smolka’s face near his eye.
Elliot nearly ended the fight with a guillotine and a rear-naked choke in the second round.
Smolka continued to transition and scramble out of takedowns in the third round and at one point took Elliot’s back and attempted a darce choke that he couldn’t finish.
The fight ended with Smolka trying to lock in a north-south choke.
In one of the two main events, Demetrious Johnson (26-2-1) picked apart Wilson Reis before catching him in an armbar. and forcing him to submit, retaining his UFC flyweight title for the 10th time to match longtime middleweight king Anderson Silva’s record for consecutive defenses.
In the other main event, Rose Namajunas (7-3) delivered a crushing kick to Michelle Waterson before leaping onto her back and cinching a tight rear-naked choke that forced a second-round tap-out.
Also on the card, Robert Whittaker (19-4) sent a jolt through the middleweight division by stopping third-ranked Ronaldo Souza with a barrage of punches in the second round.
