Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Flyweight grapplers Louis Smolka and Ray Borg scrapped last night (Dec. 30, 2016) at UFC 207 inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Smolka was climbing the ranks at a steady pace until a short-notice replacement tapped him out in the very first round just a couple months ago. Undeterred, the Hawaiian quickly made his return to the cage, this time opposite an opponent known for his grappling. Similarly, Borg was winning more often than not and ascended into the top 15, but he suffered a rough loss in his last outing. Borg was hoping to return to form and get back in the mix here, but he missed weight for the second time in the lead up to this match.
After a feeling out process, Borg slipped on a high kick but was able to scramble into top position. Immediately, the fighters began scrambling on the mat, but Borg remained heavy and continued to land in top position.
Throughout the scrambles, Borg did an excellent job of choosing when to hunt for submissions and when to land ground strikes. By the end of the opening round, Borg had slammed his opponent a couple times, cut him open, and attempt a few solid submissions.
It was a pretty dominant display by the 23-year-old.
Borg showcased some improved stand up in the open minute of the second round, but the fight quickly moved down to the mat once again. Smolka did a nice job of fishing for leg locks from the bottom, but the end result was absorbing a massive right hand from Borg.
Once back on top, the second round was really a replay of the first. Borg transitioned around his opponent’s defenses and attacked with submissions and punches, slamming his opponent back to the mat whenever Smolka managed to regain his feet.
Smolka was hanging in there, but he wasn’t accomplishing much else.
Borg wasted no time at all before shooting for another takedown. Smolka made him work for it, but the end result was that Borg folded him over into top position. He came very close to an arm triangle, but the Hawaiian was able to hang tough and wait out the choke. For the rest of the round, Smolka was kept on the defensive, occasionally searching for a guillotine that just wouldn’t materialize.
Borg pitched a shutout in this one. He utterly dominated his opponent with a takedown and transition heavy strategy. That’s been his game plan in the past, and it worked to full effect here.
He wasn’t able to tap Smolka, but he really battered him.
Additionally, Borg’s striking looked far better than in his last match up. He was moving well and setting up his shots, and it helped the prospect land some good shots.
The problem with Borg’s excellent performance was that he missed weight so badly. This is the second time that Ray Borg has failed at the scale, and at 23 years old, he’s only going to get bigger. Unless he can figure out how to make Flyweight consistently, it’s hard to get too high on him as a future contender at 125 pounds.
This is a rude awakening for Smolka. He’s been able to wiggle out of some bad positions in the past against lesser grapplers, but Borg completely shut that down. Against a fighter that he cannot out-scramble, Smolka has a really difficult time, as there’s no other real part of Smolka’s game that is complete enough to carry him to the win. Smolka is young enough to improve from this loss, but it should send the Hawaiian back to the drawing board.
At UFC 207, Ray Borg dominated Louis Smolka en route to a decision win. Is Borg a future title contender?
For complete UFC 207: “Nunes vs Rousey” results and play-by-play, click HERE!