Louis Smolka returns to the UFC, faces Sumudaerji Sumudaerji at UFC Beijing

Less than a year after he was released from the UFC, Louis Smolka is back with the Las Vegas based promotion on a short-notice opportunity. The Hawaiian returns to action on Nov. 24 against newcomer Sumudaerji Sumudaerji at UFC Fight Night 141 in Beijing, China.

MMAJunkie confirmed the matchup on Tuesday.

Smolka (14-5) heads into his UFC return on a three-fight win streak, finishing all of his opponents in the process. The 27-year-old, who moved to California earlier this year to help with his substance abuse issues, will be moving up to the 135-pound division for the first time in his UFC career. “Da Last Samurai” is now training at Team Oyama with fellow UFC bantamweights Marlon “Chito” Vera and Alex Perez. Smolka was released from the UFC at the start of this year after losing four-fights in a row to Brandon Moreno, Ray Borg, Tim Elliott and Matheus Nicolau.

Sumudaerji (10-3) is set to make his UFC debut and is coming off a submission loss to Ma Hao Bin last month at WLF W.A.R.S. 28. The 22-year-old is 9-2 in his last 11-fights and has won all of his fights by stoppage.

UFC Fight Night 141 takes place Nov. 24 at Cadillac Arena in Beijing, China. The main event features a rematch in the heavyweight division as Curtis Blaydes faces Francis Ngannou.

Here’s an updated look at the UFC Beijing card.

• Curtis Blaydes vs. Francis Ngannou
• Alistair Overeem vs. Sergey Pavlovich
• Frankie Saenz vs. Song Yadong
• Li Jingliang vs. David Zawada
• Alex Morono vs. Song Kenan
• Rashad Coulter vs. Hu Yaozong
• Lauren Mueller vs. Wu Yanan
• Jessica Aguilar vs. Weili Zhang
• Syuri Kondo vs. Yan Xiaonan
• Kevin Holland vs. John Phillips
• Martin Day vs. Liu Pingyuan
• Louis Smolka vs. Sumudaerji Sumudaerji

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 11/14/2018.