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“To be honest, when I first got into this, I didn’t think it that far through,” he said. “I just saw the glory of the guys that won, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I want that.’ (Laughs) And then after I had been in this for a while, and I met my wife, I grew up a little and it was kind of like, we’re so deep in this now, I can’t do anything else to make this much money per year, so I’ve invested in this and I guess this is how it’s gonna be now.”
In other words, we’re stuck with him.
“You guys are stuck with me,” Smolka laughs, and there’s still that joy when it comes to training and fighting, but it does get difficult when he sees what his family goes through every time he makes the walk to the Octagon, especially when he loses. That doesn’t stop the support he gets, though, especially from his wife Yumi, who is there every step of the way.
“My wife, she’s been with me for a long time,” said Smolka. “She was a fan of the sport before we ever even got together, so she’s always paid attention and she knows her stuff. Obviously if you’re consistently losing, something’s wrong. If it happens once, it could be random, but if it’s twice, then something’s happening that’s wrong.”