The MMA Daily

A performance bonus is likely to come out of this fight in the Bantamweight division, as Louis “Da Last Samarai” Smolka takes on Davey “Dangerous” Grant. Having traded wins and losses for the past six fights, Smolka will need to start to find some consistency. A true live by the sword, die by the sword fighter, Smolka hasn’t seen the scorecards in the past nine fights. Meanwhile, Grant comes into this fight looking to halt a two-fight skid. Having developed himself into a formidable striker, Grant has shown even in defeat to Marlon Vera and Adrian Yanez, that he can go toe-to-toe with more experienced strikers. Prior to the two consecutive loses, Grant has won three straight – two of which came via knockout.

As for a prediction, I have Grant winning. Stylistically speaking, this matchup favors Grant. With already established grappling abilities to go along with evolved striking, which has legitimate knockout power tied to it, Grant should be able to withstand whatever Smolka brings to the table. Smolka being once a flyweight contender, has seemingly lost his durability. Since returning to the UFC in 2018, he has been stopped in all three of his losses in round one. Now, Smolka having submission abilities is a little concerning given Grant has been stopped via submission four times in his career. However, in Grant’s last six fights, he’s only been taken down twice by Marlon Vera. Should he be able to keep this fight standing, it’s only a matter of time before the granite chinned slugger turns off Smolka’s lights. So with that said, I predict that Grant will rebound here via KO.