5 UFC fighters who overcame addiction

#4. Louis Smolka

UFC Fight Night: Smolka vs. Quinonez

Louis Smolka, a bantamweight fighter, fought one of his toughest battles against alcoholism.

It is astounding that Smolka was able to overcome his addiction to alcohol, considering it consumed so much of his life. Smolka put training on the back burner as his biggest concern was drinking at the end of the day. He physically showed up for practice but would do the bare minimum so he could escape early and go get a drink.

The amount of alcohol did not matter, and he would drink until the bottle was empty. Even mouthwash was a considerable drink of choice when there was nothing else around. Smolka suffered four losses in a row from 2016-2017 and was quite depressed by that fact. In an interview with Yahoo Sports, he said:

"I didn’t care about anything and I was just being a drunk at that time. I was at a weird place. I lost four straight and I didn’t care anymore and I said, ‘Whatever. I’m over it.’ I didn’t care about fighting. Nothing mattered to me."

What sparked a change in Smolka was the honesty of his manager, Jason House, who he was living with at the time. One day, House caught him drinking in their home after practice and told him that he had nothing to celebrate. The fact that he was no longer living with his fiancée or his child may have influenced the change, but it was mostly those words from House that made him realize it was time to quit.

Since then, Smolka has become happier and more productive and has no plans to end his sobriety.

'Da Last Samurai's' next bout is set for May 14 against Dave 'Dangerous' Grant at UFC Fight Night: Blachowicz v Rakic.