“I remember I was like, ‘Oh my God, they’re gonna stop it because I’m not technically defending myself. This sucks because I’m not hurt,’” Chookagian told UFC.com. “After, you’re just like, ‘F***, I wish I just got knocked out cold.’ That’s what you think right away, but in the long-term, you’re happy you didn’t.”

The TKO loss in February was the only time Chookagian has been finished, and after the fight, she was left wondering which direction to take her career. She said she does eventually want to have a family, and while she believes she’ll always be training no matter what, she just wanted to get back into the Octagon as soon as possible.

Naturally, the coronavirus pandemic forced changes for everyone, and after a couple of weeks spent cleaning and organizing her home, Chookagian was getting restless. Fight camp is the best time-killer, though, and soon enough, she had her next opponent in Antonina Shevchenko.

While many fighters have adjusted to less training partners than normal, Chookagian, who lives on Long Island, got to train with Claudia Gadelha and Sijara Eubanks, two athletes who competed during the Jacksonville tripleheader in May.

“We had many sparring sessions in Claudia’s garage,” Chookagian said. “That definitely helped a lot.”

She added that they were able to give her some feedback on the environment around fight week amid a pandemic, from the logistical flow to the additional benefit of hearing coaches much more clearly in the middle of the bout.

The fight with the elder Shevchenko sister provides a couple opportunities Chookagian hasn’t had in some time. First, after fighting a handful of shorter fighters, Shevchenko is only one inch shorter with an identical reach, as well as a similarly rangy striking attack. Second, it’s the first time in a few fights where Chookagian isn’t explicitly fighting to either earn or keep her spot in line for a shot at the belt.

“My couple fights before that were all with the thought in my head, ‘I want to fight for the title,’” she said. “Obviously, I want to again now, but this is refreshing and nice to be able to fight and try different things that I’ve been working on.”

That freedom is something she hasn’t really felt since her early fights on the roster when the 125-pound division didn’t exist, leaving her to fight up at bantamweight where she racked up a 2-1 record.

Since flyweight opened, though, “Blonde Fighter” grew into one of the most consistent performers in the division. Now, as she builds her case back up for another run at the title, she feels more at liberty to take some risks and show skills she kept in her back pocket as she defended her place in line.

When considering how she reconstructs her case for contention, she explained that it all just comes down to consistent, high-level performances. Reflecting on her track record, there’s more than enough reason to believe she has the ability to do just that. Until then, though, expect a free-flowing fighter, and often, that means a dangerous one.

“I think this is a good opportunity to not worry about the title, not worry about anything else and just worry about the stuff I’ve been working on that I haven’t gotten to showcase in my fights yet,” Chookagian said.

“I’ve been running up and down mountains,” he said when I caught up to him seven days before he steps into the Octagon this weekend against Casey Kenney.

Well, you did want to be in show business, he was reminded.

“I know,” he laughed. “I wanted to be an entertainer; the lights, the glitz and the glamour sucked me in.”

Smolka is in good spirits these days, in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic that has gripped the world over the past few months. The reason is simple: he’s getting into a fistfight on Saturday.

“I’m happy, I love it,” he said. “This is what I’m about. I love the chaos, I love the craziness, it’s kind of like that Hawaiian mentality, just scrap. I don’t have time to get nervous about anything. I love short-notice fights. This is where I thrive.”

If you want to assume that Smolka was waiting for his phone to ring as soon as the UFC got back to business, that’s a safe assumption. But that doesn’t mean “Da Last Samurai” didn’t get in a little down time before getting ready for battle.

“So right when the quarantine started, I geeked out on every conspiracy theory I could find and learned as much as I could for like a week, and we’ll call that my rest right there,” Smolka said. “Then I said, all right, the world hasn’t ended yet, so I guess I’m gonna go back to training and I’ve been doing my best running around. I’ve got a nice little calisthenic area outside my apartment complex so I’ve been doing my pull-ups and stuff and I was just trying to stay in shape the best I could and get some shadow boxing in. At Oyama’s they’ve had to keep the practices real small, so it’s like me and one other person.”

So it wasn’t all Netflix and chill, then? 

“You got to better yourself,” said Smolka. “That’s what the quarantine is for.”

Given his most recent victory over Ryan MacDonald last September, the evolution of Louis Smolka is going just fine. He even has some street cred back home in Hawaii after scoring his biggest knockout win to date. 

“It was my first knockout with hands,” he beamed. “(UFC veteran) Russell Doane always told me that there’s no feeling like knocking a dude out with your hands, and he’s honestly right. The adrenaline you get from that is crazy. I felt so good. I was going nuts and I couldn’t stop screaming. I loved it. It’s an amazing feeling.”

That begs the question, though, will Smolka now fall in love with his hands?

“I’ve always been trying to learn,” he laughs. “It’s what Hawaii’s known for, the hands, so I had to learn. I was the only ground guy (in the gym).” 

So he’s on the upswing as a striker?

“I definitely feel like I am.”

With his hands catching up to a stellar ground game that has produced seven submission wins, there’s even more reason to be excited when the 28-year-old steps into the Octagon. At least that’s the feeling from his opponent, Kenney, who is certain that when it’s time to fight on Saturday, Smolka will be there to scrap. That kind of respect from an opponent means a lot to the Hawaiian. 

“It’s like a mutual respect thing,” he said. “And it’s fun. If he knows that’s what I’m about, then the fans definitely know that’s what I’m about, and that’s the goal, to entertain the fans. And that’s what we’re here to do, to make them look forward to my fight, and if my opponent is looking forward to it, then the fans definitely have to be. So it’s a really good feeling to be recognized and knowing that the things I’ve been trying to accomplish are paying off.”

Even in the midst of a pandemic. That’s an impressive feat. So since Smolka loves the chaos and short-notice fights, can we expect to see him in June if a spot is available?

He laughs.

“I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I would be down. That sounds like a great idea.”

Maybe Smolka has found his happy place. No talk of rankings or moving up the ladder, no picking the right fights to get him in the title race.

Just scrap.

“The situation in the world is changing day to day and I’m just taking it as it comes,” he said. “I’m not rocking the boat, I’m happy and I’m gonna make the best out of anything.”

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On paper. In reality, it seems that as soon as Morales got the greenlight to resume training, he was on the road.

“When this whole pandemic stuff started, me and my girlfriend decided to go back to Idaho until some of this stuff calmed down,” said the Caldwell native. “I had a place to train over there, so I didn’t have to slow things down as much and we got to see family, which is always nice.” 

Okay, understandable. Then came a call from his cousin, bantamweight standout Ricky Simon.

“Ricky said he got a fight, and I said I’m coming to you so we can train,” Morales continues. “So I came over here to the Portland / Vancouver area and trained with him to wrap up his camp and here we are. I went from Boise to Portland to Florida back to Boise, drove to Vegas, and then I flew back to Portland.”

So no seeing Vegas, then?

“I was there up until February, and I’ve only been here a few days since.”

I bet you’re wondering where the Florida part of the trip came in, but if you looked close enough behind the mask, you could see “Vandetta” with Simon for his May 13 bout against Ray Borg. That’s being a good cousin, but the added benefit is that when Morales gets fight week underway for his May 30 bout against Chris Gutierrez, he will have already experienced the fight life in the midst of a pandemic, COVID-19 tests and all.

“It might give me an edge in terms of comfortability,” he said. “But when it comes down to the fight, a lot of times that could be one of the most uncomfortable things, so it’s about who deals with being uncomfortable better. Throughout the week I’ll probably be more comfortable just because I’ve been through that stuff, but I don’t want to give that too much credit where I say it will help me a lot for the fight.”

It’s an honest assessment from an honest fighter who admits that he’s a little frustrated with the way things have gone in his UFC career thus far. That’s understandable, considering that he’s a lot better than his 1-2 record in the Octagon would tell you. 

He put in a solid effort on short notice against top 15 contender Song Yadong in November 2018, then evened his record with a victory over Aiemann Zahabi in May of last year. So far so good, but then came a July bout with Benito Lopez which he lost by unanimous decision. That’s how the line on his won-loss record reads, but according to the poll taken by MMADecisions.com, all 11 media members surveyed believed Morales deserved the nod. 

That stings, but the 29-year-old is trying to keep focused on what’s ahead and not what’s in the rearview mirror.

“I think about all that and I go down a rabbit hole of negative thinking,” he said. “So from those fights, I do the same thing, whether I’m winning or losing. I look back at the fight, I try to focus on all the areas that need improvement. That’s the only thing I can do to keep me sane and that’s what I’ve been doing.”

He does wonder why the close decisions aren’t going his way, though, and he’s had plenty of time since last summer to think about it.

“I go back and forth on it because I think showmanship means a little something and I’m always egging on my opponent, trying to tell them let’s fight, so if it’s down to the wire like that, I feel like it should say something for the person who’s trying to get the fight going,” Morales said. “Or maybe I’m giving these people too much respect in the beginning of the fight where I’m figuring things out. That’s one thing about coming to the UFC and being at the elite level; I used to fight real aggressive and run straight in. And at this level, I have to pick my things a little better so I don’t run into something stupid. Most people know how to punch, so let’s do things the right way and doing things the right way left me starting off real slow, and if it comes down to one round, it’s probably that first round that I’m losing because I’m taking so much time off. But I’m in the process of fixing that as well.”

This Saturday, he gets his chance to prove that the holes in his game have been sewn up, not to mention that it will be nice fighting with his nose at full strength, meaning he can go hard for all three rounds. But even more than that, despite fighting without any fans in attendance, Morales knows he’s got plenty of support behind him, so he wants to give those people something to cheer about while they’re watching at home.

“I’ve had a lot of people reach out to me after losses, where it’s my low point, and they’re offering so much support and belief,” he said. “This is from people I don’t even know. That stuff means the world to me and I just get more and more motivated. I can’t wait to put on a show.”

This was never more evident than when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and put his day job on pause. At first, he was all-in on fighting whenever the UFC returned, but then…well, why not let him tell you.

“I try to go against the grain, so if everybody’s getting online talking about wanting fights, I kind of quieted down and started training,” said Elliott. “Since the pandemic started, I saw every single fighter in the UFC and out of the UFC and every fighter that’s ever been in the UFC going online, and now all of a sudden they’re ready to fight. I didn’t want to be one of those guys.”

And he wasn’t. Sure, it wasn’t the ideal situation in terms of training, especially for Elliott, who moved from Missouri to Las Vegas to have access to the UFC Performance Institute, but he’s an old-school fighter who made use of what he could in order to be ready for when fight cards started being booked. That’s when he made his call to manager Jason House.

“As soon as my team started to get some training in, I knew that something was gonna come around and I knew being ready was going to be important,” he said. “So as soon as I told my manager that I was gonna be ready, he had fights coming my way.”

Not surprisingly, Elliott said yes to everybody, finally coming up with someone who said yes back in the form of Octagon newcomer Brandon Royval. It’s fight Elliott is looking forward to, not just because it’s a fight, but because it promises to be a good one, even without a crowd in attendance.

“Not having that is gonna be a little bit different, but it’s a fight and this kid’s good,” said Elliott. “He’s dangerous and it’s gonna be exciting. That’s what I like about it. I’m not gonna have to go look for this guy, he’s not gonna run from me. He’s gonna meet me in the middle and mix it up and those make for the best fights for me.”

“Chaos” would be an apt middle name for the 33-year-old, who is no stranger both to the unique situation he and his peers are fighting in these days and to the reality of fighting in a virtually empty house, having won season 24 of The Ultimate Fighter. The way he sees it, that’s put everyone on a level playing field in the lead-up to their bouts.

“We’re all in the same boat,” he said. “Nobody’s getting anything extra that anybody else isn’t. The only difference is which guys were sitting around doing nothing and which guys were trying to get better.”

Elliott falls in the latter category as he looks to snap a two-fight losing streak, and while he’s the rightful favorite going into Saturday night’s bout, the No. 11-ranked contender knows that edge in experience can sometimes be a double-edged sword. 

“It goes both ways,” explains Elliott. “Yeah, I have the experience, I have a lot of time in the Octagon, but at the same time, he has a lot of tape that he can study on me against the best guys. He can watch me fight the (former) champ (Demetrious Johnson), he can watch me fight John Dodson, he can see me fighting the best guys in the world. Whereas with him, I only get to see the two guys that I know in his whole group that he’s beaten or fought. I only know a couple of those names. So yeah, I have the experience level, but this kid has a lot more stuff to watch.” 

Then there’s the whole no-crowd thing. Most fighters say it’s no big deal. Elliott, again, is not most fighters.

“I’m used to fighting in front of thousands of people and he’s not and now we’re going into a fight where there’s not gonna be any fans,” he said. “So he’s not gonna get that, ‘Aw f**k, this is a UFC fight, there’s thousands of people here and everybody’s watching.’ It’s gonna be like a gym fight for him, and that’s a disadvantage to me. I like the noise, I want to hear people or have them throw s**t at me. I like that; I thrive in those situations. When it’s quiet and kind of like a gym scenario, I don’t do quite so well. I like the bright lights. But I do have some experience with the quiet fights – I had four wins on The Ultimate Fighter where I fought four weeks in a row with no fans and no crowd.”

Wait a minute, when were people throwing things at him?

Elliott laughs, referring to some of his early pro fights in Oklahoma.

“I don’t mind being the guy getting cheered for or the guy being booed,” he said. “I just like the people there. I do better when people are watching. It’s like my one chance to finally go out there and do what I’m good at and I want people to see it.”

Well, people will see it, especially with UFC Fight Night being the only major sports event on television this Saturday. There’s got to be something to be said for that, right Tim?

“I do like that,” he said. “I like that we’re finally in the limelight with the UFC. We’re above all else right now.”

Business kicks off again this weekend with UFC Fight Night on May 30, featuring former welterweight champ Tyron Woodley against surging Brazilian Gilbert Burns in the main event of a card laced with competitive contests. While the main event certainly carries a great deal of intriguing and obvious divisional significance, it’s the abundance of emerging talents and compelling new arrivals scattered throughout the lineup that really makes this fight card pop.

Here is a closer look at three of those fighters in the latest edition of On the Rise.

Just two weeks after scoring a first-round stoppage win over Anthony Hernandez, the 27-year-old “Trailblazer” is back at it, stepping into the cage with streaking veteran Daniel Rodriguez.

Holland’s talent has never been in question — he faced quality competition on the regional circuit, including Rafael Lovato Jr., Curtis Millender, and current UFC welterweight contender Geoff Neal, and flashed potential in his Contender Series victory over Will Santiago Jr. and each of his first five Octagon appearances. He has good size, a diverse array of weapons and abilities inside the cage, and personality for days, all of which combined to put him on the radar as one to watch going forward.

If there had been one knock on Holland ahead of his bout with Hernandez in Jacksonville, it was that those flashes of potential had yet to turn into sustained periods of success, with many pointing to his penchant for jawing with his opponents before and during his bouts as one of key elements that took away from his efforts. Having a big personality and an eagerness to express yourself is a great way to help you gain traction with fans and separate yourself from the pack, but there were times where it seemed like Holland was more focused on talking to his opponents mid-fight than engaging.

That was not the case against Hernandez.

After a walkout where the broadcast crew spoke extensively about his history of chattering throughout his bouts, Holland marched across the cage and took the fight to “Fluffy,” buckling him with a knee to the midsection and putting him away with a torrent of follow-up strikes. The whole thing lasted 39 seconds and the Texas native saved all his talking for his post-fight interview.

Now the active Travis Lutter disciple makes a quick return to the Octagon, racing back to work to take on the 33-year-old Rodriguez, who pushed his winning streak to seven with a second-round submission win over Tim Means in his short-notice promotional debut earlier this year.

Holland lobbied for a quick turnaround following his victory over Hernandez and now he gets it, with a chance to build some serious momentum heading into the second half of 2020.

The latest member of the Factory X team to join the UFC ranks, Royval gets the opportunity to make an instant impression in the flyweight division as he steps in against former title challenger Tim Elliott in his promotional debut this weekend.

Royval has spent his last eight fights competing under the Legacy Fighting Alliance (LFA) banner, posting a 7-2 record with the promotion, capped by first-round submission wins over UFC vet Joby Sanchez and regional stalwart Nate Williams last year, both of which were main event assignments.

Factory X has emerged over the last couple years as one of the top teams in the sport, with the Marc Montoya-led outfit graduating Ian Heinisch and Devonte Smith into the Octagon through the Contender Series, and helping Royval and teammate Youssef Zalal reach the UFC cage via successful regional circuit runs. Now the talented newcomer has a chance to make an immediate splash in his new surroundings as he steps in with the always entertaining, always dangerous Elliott on Saturday night.

Three-and-a-half years after challenging Demetrious Johnson for the flyweight title, Elliott is still searching for consistency inside the Octagon, having posted a 2-4 record in his past six starts while also enduring an extended stay on the sidelines due to a knee injury. That being said, the Las Vegas-based veteran has consistently faced quality competition and is never an easy out, which is why this is such a compelling debut assignment for Royval.

With the flyweight division still in a state of flux, a victory over an established name like Elliott could elevate Royval into the thick of the chase in the 125-pound weight class after just a single fight, creating an opportunity for an expedited climb up the rankings. Given that possibility, expect the newcomer to look his best come Saturday night.

As a long-time professional wrestling fan dating back to the territory days, I have to admit that the first time I heard the name Spike Carlyle and learned that his nickname was “The Alpha Ginger,” the image that immediately popped into my head was that of a redheaded “enhancement talent” working in the Carolinas or Georgia who was about to get whooped on by Dusty Rhodes, Harley Race, or whatever up-and-comer had just blown into town.

But after watching his promotional debut against Aalon Cruz earlier this year, I can confirm that Carlyle is that latest new arrival with a promising future inside the cage.

The 27-year-old pushed his professional record to 9-1 with a first-round stoppage win over Cruz at the end of February, stinging the Contender Series alum with short elbows along the fence before landing in full mount and finishing him off with “Donkey Kong” ground-and-pound like his coach, retired UFC middleweight veteran Mark Munoz.

Now Carlyle is set to make his sophomore appearance in the Octagon against Ultimate Fighter and Contender Series alum Billy Quarantillo. A cast member on Season 22 of the long-running reality TV competition, “Billy Q” has gone 7-1 since his time on Team Faber, pushing his winning streak to six with a victory over Jacob Kilburn late last year.

The featherweight division where the two usually fight (this bout is being fought at a catchweight of 150 pounds) is flush with talent, and the competition to climb the ladder has never been more fierce, which ups the ante for every hopeful crossing the threshold into the UFC cage as business picks back up. While not the most high profile matchup, make no mistake about it — this is an outstanding pairing between two talented, promising new additions to the roster, and if Carlyle can collect another quick, impressive finish, he’ll position himself for another step up in competition later this year.