“The Suga Show” is in need of a new opponent.
Louis Smolka is out of UFC 264, which means Sean O'Malley awaits a new matchup ahead of the July 10 pay-per-view event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed Smolka’s withdrawal on Tuesday after an initial report by MMA reporter Ariel Helwani. The person asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
In his most recent outing, O’Malley (13-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) rebounded from an August 2020 TKO loss to Marlon Vera. Against former bantamweight contender Thomas Almeida, O’Malley added another highlight reel knockout to his resume.
Smolka (17-7 MMA, 8-7 UFC) has gone 3-2 since he returned to the UFC in 2018. He most recently competed in December when he finished Jose Quinonez by second-round TKO.
With Smolka’s withdrawal, the updated UFC 264 lineup includes:
- Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor
- Gilbert Burns vs. Stephen Thompson
- Greg Hardy vs. Tai Tuivasa
- Irene Aldana vs. Yana Kunitskaya
- Sean O’Malley vs. TBA
- Carlos Condit vs. Max Griffin
- Michel Pereira vs. Niko Price
- Jessica Eye vs. Jennifer Maia
- Ryan Hall vs. Ilia Topuria
- Omari Akhmedov vs. Brad Tavares
- Jerome Rivera vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov
- Dricus Du Plessis vs. Trevin Giles
- Alen Amedovski vs. Hu Yaozong
