Submission victory

LAS VEGAS — Ten days notice was more than enough for Casey Kenney.

He didn’t even need a full period to prove it.

Kenney, a 2009 Jay County High School graduate, finished off Louis Smolka by submission in just 3 minutes, 3 seconds, on Saturday during UFC Fight Night at UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

The fight was an important bounce back after he suffered his first UFC defeat, and just the second of his professional career, by unanimous decision to Merab Dvalishvili in February. He’s now 3-1 in his UFC career.

“I just wanted to erase the loss,” said Kenney, who signed the contract for the fight May 20. “You’re only as good as your last fight, and that one was damn near perfect.”

The fight was decided in a 20-second stretch with Kenney (14-2-1) circling and Smolka (16-7) attacking from the center. Smolka tossed a left jab that didn’t come close to connecting and Kenney countered with a left-right combination. The second of those punches buckled Smolka’s legs, causing him to step back toward the center of the octagon.

Smolka took a shot in an effort to swing the exchange back into his favor, but the move resulted in his defeat. As Smolka charged, Kenney threw his left arm over his opponent’s head in perfect position for a guillotine choke. The fighters went to the mat, and after Kenney got his weight on top of Smolka, it took only one second for the 28-year-old from Waipahu, Hawaii, to tap out.

“That’s something I had drilled a lot, especially that guillotine,” said Kenney. “I knew if he shot in, his neck was going to be there. … That was all she wrote. Once I locked that up, it was over. …

“The choke started once I threw my arm over … And then by the time my weight gets there, it’s too late.”

Over the course of the three-minute fight, Kenney found success attacking Smolka with kicks and consistently connecting with counter punches. Smolka, meanwhile focused on throwing punches to Kenney’s body.

The results, prior to the quick submission, were lopsided in Kenney’s favor. He connected on 32 strikes compared to 18 for Smolka, with 15 of those to the head and a dozen kicks to his legs.

“I knew I was going to be faster all around,” said Kenney. “In that case, I was just going to touch him. I wanted to touch him, get out of the way, touch him, get out of the way. …

“Everything was landing. I was seeing everything. I felt crisp; all my shots were crisp. And every time he was coming in I was getting off combinations.

“I knew that if I kept hitting him like that it was only a matter of time before he was going to go down.”

Kenney (14-2-1) is now 7-1 in his last eight fights with the lone loss coming against Dvalishvili. He’s 3-1 in the UFC in just over 13 months at mixed martial arts’ highest level.

The win marked his first by submission at the UFC level after going the distance in his last three fights. Just eight days prior to starting his UFC career, he had won the Legacy Fighting Alliance interim bantamweight title by knockout over Vince Cachero.

Kenney originally signed a four-fight contract with the UFC in March 2019, and then signed a new four-fight deal after opening his career with the promotion with consecutive unanimous decision wins against Ray Borg and Manny Bermudez. He’s now midway through his current contract and is hopeful to be able to fight again this summer.

With that goal in mind, he was right back in the gym for a full workout Monday.

“I’m waiting for the call now,” said Kenney. “I don’t care when they call me, I’ll be there.”