The countdown continues to UFC Fight Night Dublin this Saturday in the O2, but how well do you know the people who will be fighting on the night?
Unless you have been living under a rock for the last month, you will know all about the main attraction Conor McGregor, but his match-up with Brazilian Diego Brandao is not the only mouth-watering encounter on the card.
Dublin based fighters Cathal Pendred, Neil Seery and Patrick Holohan, as well as Antrim product Norman Parke will be fighting in the Octagon on Saturday night.
On top of this, Icelandic star Gunnar Nelson will take on Zak Cummings in an eagerly anticipated welterweight match up. Nelson considers Ireland a second home and often trains with Conor McGregor in the SBG Gym in Dublin.
Many of these names probably mean nothing to you, but fear not, JOE has got you covered.
JOE presents… our definitive guide to the fighters that aren’t Conor McGregor on Saturday night. The name may need a little work…
Cathal Pendred
He is probably the name you are most likely to recognise if you have a passing interest in the UFC. The Boston born Irish fighter competed in Series 19 of The Ultimate Fighter in America but he was defeated by decision in the semi-final. More importantly, he recently he saved a stricken dolphin down in Doonbeg, Co Clare. JOE knows that it has nothing to with the UFC or his fight this Saturday but we feel it is important that you know this.
Pendred also wrote a number of columns for JOE about the support of his family and also about cutting weight for fights, they are fantastic to read and you should check them out.
Pendred is the former Cage Warriors welterweight world champion and holds a professional record of 13-2-1 with the last of his two losses coming all the way back in December 2010. In MMA circles there is a lot of hype surrounding Pendred and big things are expected of him since the UFC signed him up on a ten-fight contract.
Neil Seery
The 34-year-old lost his opening UFC fight on points to English fighter Brad Pickett (who coincidentally is on the UFC Dublin card) but he gets a second shot at earning his first ever UFC win on Saturday night. The Dubliner balances fighting, with family life, while working in an electricity company beside Dublin Airport. Indeed just days after his defeat to Pickett he tweeted a picture of himself back at work sweeping the floor.
Back at it hard ha pic.twitter.com/pxI208FsU0
— Neil 2 Tap Seery (@NeilSeeryMMA) March 11, 2014
Seery fights out of Team Ryano Gym in Dublin and holds a MMA record of 13-10-0 and he was on a four fight win streak before defeat to Pickett. He will be hoping to get a win under his belt against an opponent he has faced before, Phil Harris. The fight took place in 2010 with Harris winning by unanimous decision, but Seery learnt a lot from that fight so expect a bruising encounter on Saturday night.
Patrick Holohan
Patrick ‘The Hooligan’ Holohan fights out of Tallaght in Dublin. He appeared on Series 18 of The Ultimate Fighter(TUF) in which Ronda Rousey was a coach, however, Holohan was defeated in his preliminary fight and failed to make it into the house. He ranked as the number one bantamweight in Cage Contenders for four years which is an impressive accomplishment.
Holohan has not fought professionally (apart from TUF) since July 2012 so he will no doubt be fired up for his match-up against Josh Sampo. When quizzed about his favourite striking technique on the UFC official website, he replied “One that hurts the other guy”. JOE likes Patrick Holohan already…
Norman Parke
The Antrim born UFC fighter won The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes, in 2012 and has not looked back from there with three UFC wins under his belt as well as one draw. ‘Stormin’ Norman is one of the most exciting prospects in the UFC lightweight division and his match against Naoyuki Kotani promises to be a savage affair.
Parke rose through the ranks at the same time as Conor McGregor and they fought the same opponents but they never fought one another, although Parke did discuss the possibility of a match up with McGregor in a recent video he did with MMAMicks. The prospect is mouth-watering but for now his mind is focused on his next fight. He did reveal with a smile in the video that there’s nothing like a good pint of Guinness and he joked that he likes to indulge in some of ‘the black stuff’ after his fights. Norman sounds like JOE’s kind of guy…
Take a look at this video tribute to him below.
Video via Ryan Johnson
Gunnar Nelson
The Icelandic fighter considers Ireland his second home and he spends much of his time training with John Kavanagh in the SBG Gym in Dublin. He is a black belt in Brazilian ju-jitsu under UFC legend Renzo Gracie. Nelson’s unorthodox fighting style makes him a difficult prospect for any opponent in the cage.
‘Gunni’ is an extremely accomplished fighter and if you watch his fight on Saturday night, you are in for a treat as the man is a predator in the Octagon. Nelson is undefeated in his professional career and he will be looking to keep that run going on Saturday with a dominant performance against former Ultimate Fighter contestant Zak Cummings.
One of his latest fights against Jorge Santiago is below.
Video via Jón Þór Hermannsson
Finally, this fighter is not Irish but we discussed him already in this article. His name is Brad Pickett but here at JOE we like to call him by his nickname, ‘One Punch’. We thought you should know to watch out for this guy on Saturday night. He has earned a fight-night bonus in five of his seven fights netting him a cool $270,000 in extra pay. Keep an eye out for his fight, it is sure to be a slugfest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9OGIPGqLls#t=50
Video via rtl9
