Louis Smolka got his fair share of flack of Irish MMA fans after he and Neil Seery engaged in some classic Twitter back and forth before their meeting at UFC 189. Not only did the Smolka have to worry about being a target of the Irish fan base on social media, but he was lucky enough to have some staying right next to him in the lead up to his bout with the Irishman at UFC 189.

“There were Irish fans in the room right beside me, that’s right!” he laughed. “Me and Neil had started our little Twitter beef thing a little while before and a few of the guys who were egging us on they were staying right next door.

“They were pretty friendly to be honest. After the fight, we were trying to have a few drinks and they came over to say hello, but I guess I had fallen asleep already. They were really nice guys I gave them some shirts and stuff. They were really cool about everything.”

Taking the win over the Team Ryano stalwart back in July, the exciting Hawaiian claimed Seery was one of the toughest tests of his young career.

“Neil was one of my toughest fights to date. He’s a really good competitor, he’s well rounded and he’s really dangerous. He has lots of finishes, he’s a really tough guy to fight and anyone that knows about Seery was very impressed with my performance. I think the fight probably won me a lot of fans,” stated Smolka.

From one Irishman to another, Smolka now faces Paddy Holohan at UFC Dublin on October 24, which should propel the winner into the UFC’s flyweight rankings. According to Smolka, he has had his eyes on Holohan for a while given that the Dubliner is the only member of the flyweight bracket who is taller than him.

“I know who Paddy is. I have known who he is for quite awhile because he’s the only guy that’s bigger than me in the division – I was like ‘there’s someone bigger than me, what the hell is going on?’ I’ve looked him up, and he’s real.

“Looking through his skillset, I am confident but he is dangerous in certain areas. His jiu-jitsu is a little bit different than the conventional grapplers’ in MMA. His grappling style is different so that’s something I’m going to have to look into. He approaches that aspect of the game in his own way, it’s not like the traditional MMA fighter, I can see the grappling exchanges being very different. I’m going to have to look at that,” explained Smolka.

The rangy flyweight also gave his thoughts on performing in front of the Irish fans. As far as he is concerned, Smolka would prefer to fight in front of a passionate crowd and is he is looking forward to his reception when the action goes down in the Irish capital.

“It’s something that you just have to be aware of and make your peace with. For me, it’s just the way it’s going to be so you have to accept it. I can’t be over here worrying like ‘oh, what if they boo me?’

“I can’t worry about that. That’s not my biggest issue, my biggest issue is standing across the cage from me. I can’t go over to Dublin and worry about the fans. For the walkouts and stuff like that, it’s actually a lot of fun. To have all that noise and energy, that part is fun. For the fight, they’re going to boo you. You may as well just make your peace with that. You’ve just got to go in there and do what you do.”

@PetesyCarroll