A bantamweight matchup between Sean O'Malley and Louis Smolka that is all but guaranteed to deliver action has been added to UFC 264: Poirier vs McGregor III.
Rising UFC star "Sugar" O'Malley, 26, will make his highly-anticipated return to the Octagon against "Da Last Samurai" Smolka, 29.
GIVEMESPORT has confirmed reports the #14 and #41-ranked 135-pounders will meet at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on July 10 following an initial report from Fight Game Media.
O'Malley (13-1) is coming off a third-round KO of Thomas Almeida at UFC 260 in March. The Arizona native has won five of his past six fights. O'Malley boasts a 4-1 record in the UFC with three wins coming by way of knockout.
Former Pacific Xtreme Combat flyweight champion Smolka, meanwhile, has been on the sidelines for the last five months, following a second-round TKO of Jose Alberto Quinonez at UFC Vegas 16.
The Hawaiian has alternated wins and losses in his past four fights, including a loss to O'Malley's teammate Casey Kenney.
Victory over the grizzled veteran Smolka could kick start a run to the top of the rankings for O'Malley, who has successfully rebounded from his first career loss against Marlon Vera.
The card will be headlined by a legacy-defining trilogy bout in the lightweight division between "The Notorious" Conor McGregor and the in-form Dustin Poirier.
McGregor (22-5) hasn't won a UFC fight since January 2020, while Poirier (27-6) is undefeated in his previous two fights since losing to former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in 2019.
UFC 264 card (as it stands):
Dustin Poirier vs Conor McGregor
Gilbert Burns vs Stephen Thompson
Jessica Eye vs Jennifer Maia
Ryan Hall vs Ilia Topuria
Jerome Rivera vs Zhalgas Zhumagulov
Omari Akhmedov vs Brad Tavares
Tai Tuivasa vs Greg Hardy
Dricus Du Plessis vs Trevin Giles
Sean O’Malley vs Louis Smolka
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