Cariaso-Smolka, Horiguchi-Montague added to UFC Fight Night in Cincinnati
A pair of flyweight bouts have been added to the UFC’s May card in Ohio.
Chris Cariaso (16-5 MMA, 5-4 UFC) will take on Louis Smolka (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) and Kyoji Horiguchi (12-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) meets Darrell Montague (13-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) at the UFC’s recently announced Fight Night event in Cincinnati. UFC announced the new bookings overnight.
The card takes place May 10 at Cincinnati’s U.S. Bank Arena. The main card is expected to air on FOX Sports 1 following prelims on UFC Fight Pass.
Cariaso, a former bantamweight, earlier this month picked up a unanimous decision win over Danny Martinez at UFC 169 in New Jersey. That gave him two straight wins after he shut down Iliarde Santos at UFC Fight Night 29 this past October in Brazil. The two-fight winning streak has him back on track after a two-fight skid in the division with losses to John Moraga and Jussier Formiga after winning his flyweight debut in July 2012.
Smolka in January won his UFC debut when he took a decision against Alp Ozkilic at UFC Fight Night 35 in Georgia. That kept the Hawaiian perfect in his pro career at 7-0, but it was the first time he had to go to the judges’ scorecards to get his hand raised. Prior to that, he had four submission wins and a pair of knockouts.
Horiguchi won his UFC debut this past October at UFC 166 in Houston when he stopped Dustin Pague with a second-round TKO. That ran his winning streak to six fights and was his first fight outside his native Japan. It also was his eighth knockout in 12 career victories.
Montague, meanwhile, will be looking to get back on track after being knocked out by John Dodson at UFC 166. The loss, which came in his UFC debut, snapped a four-fight winning streak for the Tachi Palace Fights veteran.
Montague is ranked No. 10 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie.com MMA flyweight rankings. Cariaso currently is ranked No. 12.
With the additions, the latest UFC Fight Night in Cincinnati card now includes:
Ed Herman vs. Rafael Natal
Soa Palelei vs. Ruan Potts
Manny Gamburyan vs. Nik Lentz
Chris Cariaso vs. Louis Smolka
Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Darrell Montague
Justin Salas vs. Ben Wall
