UFC Fight Night Portland gets first three fights including Louis Smolka vs. Sergio Pettis

By Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Louis Smolka (photo credit Per Haljestam © USA Today Sports)

The first three fights for the UFC’s return trip to Portland are now set, as the UFC announced on Monday that Louis Smolka vs. Sergio Pettis, Tamdan McCrory vs. Nate Marquardt, and Walt Harris vs. Shamil Abdurakhimov will all take place on the Oct. 1 card.

Smolka enters the event on an excellent four-fight winning streak that has seen him stop three opponents. The 25-year-old Hawaiian most recently took out Ben Nguyen at UFC Fight Night 91 last month. He’ll now take on fellow flyweight prospect Pettis, who enters with wins in four of his last five.

From prospects to veteran competitors, the McCrory-Marquardt fight sees two longtime vets trying to get back in the win column. “The Barn Cat” McCrory returned to the UFC in December for the first time in over six years after a lengthy hiatus from MMA and a return in Bellator. He defeated Josh Samman in his return fight, but got knocked out by Krzysztof Jotko in June. As for Marquardt, the 17-year-vet got stopped in his most recent fight by Thiago Santos, and has lost six of eight fights.

In heavyweight action, Harris returns after scoring his first UFC win in four attempts in April, as he knocked out Cody East at UFC 197. Abdurakhimov picked up his own first UFC victory in February when he defeated Anthony Hamilton by decision.

The Oct. 1 UFC Fight Night event will air live on Fox Sports 1, and will be the UFC’s first event in the state of Oregon since August of 2009.

[Photo (c) Per Haljestam via USA Today Sports]

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