To me it wouldn’t be a proper Dublin card without local hero Neil Seery (15-11) fighting. The 36-year-old has epitomized the ‘fighting spirit’ the Irish are known for since he joined the promotion in early 2014.
His debut was against Brad Pickett and Seery beat him at his own game and out struck him on the feet forcing the Englishman and longtime Zuffa fighter to take things to the ground where he would win by decision. Seery opened a lot of people’s eyes to him and has since become a fan favourite of sorts.
He is 2-2 so far in the UFC and has yet to be involved in a bad fight or even look in trouble in any of his bouts.
His opponent for UFC Dublin will be American based fighter Jon delos Reyes (8-4) a fighter who is 1-2 in the UFC. While all of Seery’s fights in the UFC have went to a decision, all of Reyes’ fights have been stoppages. He is a very ‘kill or be killed’ type of fighter, something which might play into the Dubliner’s strengths.
Reyes won his last outing and before that lost to recent title challenger Kyoji Horiguchi, so don’t be deceived by his 1-2 UFC record.
The event will be headlined by a five round bout between Joe “Irish” Duffy and top 15 ranked UFC lightweight Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier. In the co-main event, meanwhile, two of the world’s top ranked heavyweights – Stipe Miocic and Ben Rothwell – will look to stake their claim for a shot at the world title.
UFC FIGHT NIGHT®: POIRIER vs. DUFFY will also feature a welterweight bout between Cathal Pendred (17-4-1, fighting out of Dublin, Ireland) and Tom Breese (8-0-0, fighting out of Birmingham, England), as well as a lightweight bout between Norman Parke (21-4-1, fighting out of Bushmills, Northern Ireland) and Reza “Mad Dog” Madadi (13-3-0, fighting out of Stockholm, Sweden)
Other Irish fighters in action on the night will be Paddy “The Hooligan” Holohan (12-1-1, fighting out of Tallaght, Dublin) who will meet Louis “Da Last Samurai” Smolka (9-1-0, Kapolei, USA), and Aisling “Ais The Bash” Daly (15-5-0, fighting out of Dublin, Ireland) who will meet Ericka Almeida (7-1-0, fighting out of Sau Paulo, Brazil).
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