UFC 189 Co-Main Event & Undercard Preview

Given the relentless hype for the main event, it’s been easy to forget that there is actually an undercard to UFC 189 on Saturday but that undercard would probably be amongst the best PPV cards of the year even if both Conor McGregor and Chad Mendes suddenly got injured.

The co-main event itself is a fight worthy of headlining any MMA card as Robbie Lawler (25-10, 1NC) looks to make the first defence of his UFC Welterweight title against Rory MacDonald (18-2).

Robbie Lawler’s career would make an excellent movie trilogy, all the way from the youthful prodigy through his journeyman years in the wilderness to his triumphant UFC return and title victory.

6-1 since returning to the UFC and dropping back down to Welterweight, Lawler seems to have reached a point in his career where natural talents, coaching, experience and a maturity have moulded him into a complete martial artist where his always dangerous striking is fully in accord with his grappling game, cardio and mentality.

By contrast, Rory MacDonald has seemed like the heir apparent to the welterweight throne for years. A protégé of former champion Georges St-Pierre, it seemed that MacDonald was always the new big thing at 170lbs even as losses to elite fighters Carlos Condit (losing to a late KO after dominating the fight for three rounds) and Lawler (via split decision) checked his progress towards the seemingly inevitable title shot.

Nonetheless, MacDonald rebounded from both losses by becoming a more dangerous, more complete martial artists and in the five years since first tasting defeat in that fight against Condit.

Now, one of the sports most beloved and skilled veterans faces off with one of the preeminent examples of a modern, well rounded, cerebral and above all, professional MMA fighter with the belt on the line. What more could you ask for?

Well, a promoter would ask for one of them to be a bit mouthier and turn a credible sporting contest into a bit more of a media sensation, but a certain Irishman seems to have pegged the market in that field. In any case, for true fans of mixed martial arts as a sport, this is as credible a title matchwith as compelling a sporting narrative as any you are likely to find.

The main card is filled out with a few excellent fights, all of which could be expected to headline a Fight Pass card in their own right. Firstly, a featherweight contest between two guys who are no stranger to ‘of the night’ bonuses and had been on the outer edge of title contention before some recent losses in the shape of Dennis Bermudez (14-4) and Jeremy Stephens (23-11). A win for either man really places them back in the mix.

Next we have two rising welterweight prospects who met defeat in their last bout against experienced opposition as the exciting Brandon Thatch (11-2) meets smooth Icelander, Gunnar Nelson (13-1-1) looking to recover from losses to Benson Henderson and Rick Story respectively. Both are highly regarded by UFC brass, the media and the fans so the winner here could find themselves a win or two from a title shot.

Opening the main card, Brad Pickett (24-10) returns to 135lbs following a disappointing 1-3 run at Flyweight and is rewarded with the dubious honour of facing undefeated prospect Thomas Almeida (18-0). Pickett would be the biggest scalp of Almedia’s career to date, while a win over the impressive youngster would immediately rehabilitate Pickett to his former spot in the top ten of the bantamweight rankings.

The preliminary card also has it’s share of great fights as ‘Immortal’ Matt Brown (19-13) faces the surging Tim Means (24-6-1) and with a hefty 28 knockout wins between them I don’t think anyone is expecting a dull fight…

We’ve also got former Cage Warriors champion Cathal Pendred (17-2-1) looking to impress after a lukewarm start to his UFC career when he faces the ever-game veteran John Howard (22-11) and Neil Seery (15-10)continues his UFC fairytale against Louis Smolka (8-1) knowing that a win would likely place him in title contention given the shallow waters in the flyweight division.

For once this is a card which actually seems worth staying up late for so let’s hope it lives up to the hype.

The Good, The Bad & the Ugly: UFC London Edition

You know how this works by now…

The Good:

The action throughout was of a high quality but the undoubted high points have to be the standout performances by Alexander Gustafsson and Gunnar Nelson, with the compelling bouts between Pickett/Seery and da Silva/Scott and big wins for Ilir Latifi, Luke Barnatt and Louis Gaudinot.

The new announce team of John Gooden and Dan Hardy did a fine job, offering informative and engaging commentary while not stepping on the action or indulging in self aggrandisation – a rare and special feat in terms of MMA announcing it seems.

A lot of UK cards have felt a tad second rate in the past, headed by bouts that wouldn’t make the main card of a US show but that criticism simply cannot be aimed here. Two number one contenders were decided and some other fighters took big steps towards the top echelons of the divisions.

Even the late replacements to the card were significant with Neil Seery proving a great test for Brad Pickett and really showing his quality (Dana White was vocally impressed, for one thing) while Michael Johnson added to his win streak with plenty to spare against Melvin Guillard.

The Bad:

A strangely lacklustre co-main event where some promising trash talk resulted in a tepid match with long periods of reluctance to engage interspersed with burst of compelling action was a bit disappointing.

Indeed, I don’t recall another match that had several near knockdowns that proved so unsatisfying and unmemorable.

The new EMEA ring announcer (who’s name I’ve forgotten already) wasn’t convincing and I can totally understand the criticism of some US commentators feeling that his delivery made the show seem like a regional level event. Do we not have anyone in the UK who won’t fluff the information given on their cue cards and doesn’t make their ring announcing sound like a pro wrestling bout in a working men’s social club, circa 1982?

In truth, it wasn’t a great night for British fighters as they went 1-4 on the card, with only Luke Barnatt really adding to his stock (I’m not counting Pickett vs. Seery here as it was pretty much a derby fight) but Brad Scott can feel aggrieved at losing the decision in his fight and Manuwa and Mitchell both showed plenty of skills and entertainment value.

The Ugly – this week retitled, The Funny:

Towards the end of the Igor Araujo vs. Danny Mitchell match, the two fighters were locked in a mutual leg lock and with time winding down, they flailed at each other like (admittedly large and strong) toddlers fighting over who gets to play with the toy bricks.

Totally understandable in the circumstances, but visually hysterical nonetheless.

Disclaimer: We watched the whole show on Fight Pass / BT Sport, so didn’t have first hand experience of the Channel 5 offering of the top fights, but by all accounts their broadcast was embarrassingly bad which shouldn’t surprise anyone who witnessed their half assed attempts on BAMMA shows.

If we’d had the UFC chequebook we would have given bonuses to…

Fight of The Night:

It had to be Pickett vs. Seery for sheer competitiveness, quality and variety of action and a sense that the fight mattered. While not quite the OMG spectacle I had built the fight up to be, it still had a bit if everything and I can’t criticise Brad Pickett for doing the sensible thing and taking Seery down to ensure what was a vital win for him.

Performance of the Night #1:

Alexander Gustafsson, who waited till he had Jimi Manuwa’s measure and then ended his undefeated streak almost at will, choosing to turn up the heat midway through the second round and quickly dropping the powerful Englishman. This was exactly the result Gustafsson needed following his razor thin loss to Jon Jones and he is back as #1 contender once again.

Performance of the Night #2:

Gunnar Nelson for handling the very dangerous Omari Akhmedov with his characteristically unhurried style. Nelson has never been one to rush things or look particularly stressed by a situation, but his calm demeanour through the early striking exchanges and his supremely smooth jiujitsu towards the end made a worthy opponent look like a beginner at Mjollnir MMA that Nelson was demonstrating techniques to.

Surely a top ten opponent for Gunnar next, maybe Mike Pyle or the winner of Matt Brown vs. Erick Silva?

Notable mentions go to Ilir Latifi for a good performance and brutal neck crank submission win, Luke Barnatt for a big KO over a very underrated Mats Nilsson and Louis Gaudinot for his party pooper early sub of Phil Harris.

MAIN CARD

Alexander Gustafsson def. Jimi Manuwa via TKO (knee and punches) – Round 2, 1:18
Michael Johnson def. Melvin Guillard via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) – Round 3, 5:00
Brad Pickett def. Neil Seery via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) – Round 3, 5:00
Gunnar Nelson def. Omari Akhmedov via submission (guillotine) – Round 1, 4:36

PRELIMINARY CARD

Ilir Latifi def. Cyrille Diabate def. submission (neck crank) – Round 1, 3:02
Luke Barnatt def. Mats Nilsson def. TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 4:24
Claudio Henrique da Silva def. Brad Scott def. unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) – Round 3, 5:00
Igor Araujo def. Danny Mitchell def. unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) – Round 3, 5:00
Louis Gaudinot def. Phil Harris def. submission (guillotine) – Round 1, 1:13

Conflicted Loyalties – One Punch, or 2 Tap?

Usually, I know exactly who I’m backing in a fight.  Sometimes it’s an easy question with an exciting, likeable fighter from a nation I hold an affinity to facing off against a dull, dislikeable fighter from a nation I don’t but sometimes the equation is more balanced.

Sometimes there will be a fighter who’s style I like but who’s personality I don’t against a polar opposite, a fighter who I might favour for geographic reasons against one who’s style I like better or any sort of combination of factors.

As a rule I favour fighters in the following order of nationality – Scottish, Irish/Welsh, English/Scandinavian, European, Asian, Brazilian, North American – this often has as much to do with underdog status as anything else and can be completely thrown out if I’m a big fan (or not) of the fighter’s personality, skills or style.

Basically, if I’m backing you purely because of your nationality, it’s because I have no strong feelings about you apart from that, which is not a good thing.

However, never have I been as on-the-fence as I am for tonight’s bout between Brad ‘One Punch’ Pickett and Neil ‘2 Tap’ Seery.

I’m a huge fan of both fighters, for their personality, fighting style and the fact that they are both from a similar part of the world to me*.

* I hesitate to say ‘British’ as Seery and most Irish fans wouldn’t like the designation, even if it’s intended as more a geographical than political term, to be used in similar terms to ‘Scandinavian’ – the fact that I am a Scot in favour of Scottish independence, yet quite happy to also self-identify as part of a cultural ‘British’ diaspora (drinking tea, speaking English as a first language etc.) seems to confuse and threaten a lot of people.  Is a desire for self-determination without racism really so hard to understand?

Under normal circumstances, I would pull for Ireland over England (well, I do when they meet in the 6 Nations, it’s a gaelic thing) and the underdog over the established star, but I can’t bring myself to cheer against Pickett, because I like him and my team sports tendency for ‘anyone but England*’ doesn’t extend to MMA, it seems.

* which again, stems more from sheer annoyance at the English sports media and the fact that they are sort of the big dogs around these parts.  

So, I’ll do the sensible thing.  I’ll sit back, watch the match and enjoy the performance of two martial artists that I have massive respect for, cheering and applauding both men.

In a lot of ways, this is something that I love about MMA – it cuts through a lot of the more insidious prejudices that are commonly associated with team sports and at the end of the day, you tend to like or dislike a fighter based on their personality and performances, rather than their country of birth.

Sure, nationality can be a starting point before you get to know the fighter, but it all too quickly becomes a secondary concern for most fans and that’s a really good thing.

Either way, I think this is a lock for our fight of the night and I can’t wait…

Probably The Worst UFC London Preview In The World

I’m enjoying the build up to this card too much to overanalyse everything so here goes…

This card is stacked with fun fights, but I’m particularly looking forward to the headliner between Alexander Gustafsson & Jimi Manuwa as two European fighters with a penchant for intense striking battles face off with the promise of a title shot on the table. What’s not to love about that?

That said, my pick for fight of the night is the Flyweight contest between Brad Pickett and Neil Seery – two reliably entertaining fighters with a few built in story lines for added value (Pickett’s hunt for a title shot, Seery’s ‘Rocky’ story and the whole England vs. Ireland thing) facing off in a guaranteed barnburner.

Throw in UFC debuts for Danny Mitchell and Mats Nilsson, the fact that every single match (bar the co-main event) will have a an impact on our European rankings and I can’t see any way that Michael Johnson vs. Melvin Guillard and Omar Akhmedov vs. Gunnar Nelson will be dull matches.

I’m also excited to see how the box fresh commentary team of John Gooden and Dan Hardy get on. Gooden has long been one of my favourite announcers and Hardy is easily one of the most engaging figures in MMA, so they should be an excellent partnership.

Our live tweeting will be done from a party (UFC at a civilised hour is a good excuse to gather friends and have a few beverages, no?) and may well include photos and videos of our own merry-making chaos as well as insight on the fights themselves.

We’re gonna have a great night, and we think everyone who attends or tunes in will as well.

Card Information

UFC Fight Night 38: Gustafsson vs. Manuwa
March 8, 2014 | O2 Arena | London, England

MAIN CARD
BT Sport 8 p.m. GMT / UFC Fight Pass, 3 p.m. ET
Channel 5 from 9.45 p.m. GMT for the co-headliners and highlights.

Alexander Gustafsson vs. Jimi Manuwa
Melvin Guillard vs. Michael Johnson
Brad Pickett vs. Neil Seery
Omari Akhmedov vs. Gunnar Nelson

PRELIMINARY CARD
UFC Fight Pass, 12:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m GMT

Cyrille Diabate vs. Ilir Latifi
Luke Barnatt vs. Mats Nilsson
Brad Scott vs. Claudio Henrique da Silva
Roland Delorme vs. Davey Grant
Igor Araujo vs. Danny Mitchell
Louis Gaudinot vs. Phil Harris

Pendred & Seery vacate Cage Warriors Titles for UFC Debuts

 

It’s been a big few days of news from the Cage Warriors camp as Cathal Pendred formally vacated the Welterweight title pending his upcoming appearance on the Ultimate Fighter (which will also feature fellow CWFC alum and SBG Ireland product, Chris Fields) and today, Flyweight champion Neil Seery was announced as the late replacement for Ian McCall and is set to face Brad Pickett in London next month.

Pendred (13-2-1) leaves CWFC on a seven fight unbeaten streak, including wins over UFC vets Che Mills and David Bielkheden and a draw against the similarly UFC bound Danny Mitchell and a pre-CWFC win over current UFC fighter Nico Musoke.

He held the Welterweight belt since March 2013 where he defeated Gael Grimaud via decision and defended the belt once with his June TKO victory over Mills.

Seery (13-9) moves on carrying the best streak of his career, with four victories (all under the CWFC banner) since his 2012 submission loss to Artemij Sitenkov.

His last two victories – a liver kick TKO to Paul Marin and arm bar submission of Mikael Silander to win the Flyweight belt – have been especially impressive and when you remember that Seery has only had 4 fights in a 22 fight career go to a decision, he’s as close to guaranteed entertainment as you get.

 

Kumite would like to congratulate and thank Cathal & Neil for their efforts in the past few years which have formed a big part of Cage Warriors’ success and the rise in profile of Irish MMA.

 

We are sure both guys will be a credit to their country and great ambassadors for their gyms on the biggest stage but we have to say that Seery vs. Pickett just jumped to the top of my ‘must see’ matches for UFC London.

 

Quick Shill – Cage Warriors 62 – Seery vs. Gomez

Quick Shill – Cage Warriors 62 – Seery vs. Gomez

For their first of three cards in December, Cage Warriors are offering up a world class title fight, a selection of the UK & Europe’s top fighters and some compelling dark horses on the undercard.

Headlined with the exciting Neil Seery making the first defence of his Flyweight title on the crest of a remarkable career resurgence against Ulysses Gomez who was ill served by his UFC release, seeing as a TKO loss to John Moraga (who went on to challenge for the UFC belt) and a wafer thin decision loss on foreign soil to Phil Harris hardly reflected all that badly on him.

Back in the UK, Gomez will be looking for a different result and he’s more than capable of pulling it off but on recent form he’ll find the experienced Seery a very tough challenge in what should be an awesome match.

As to the rest of the card, my pick of the bouts has to be surging and undefeated featherweight Chris Fishgold coming up against the biggest challenge of his career in the shape of the well travelled Olivier Pastor.

Elsewhere we have popular locals Liam James, Curt Warburton and Alex Enlund facing quality opposition in Ian Entwhistle, Wes Murch and Danny Lawson respectively.

Compelling bouts extend into the undercard, with a brace of female fights, Dinky Ninjas (yes, we are biased) Dan Hope and Mark Connor as well as Jordan Deesborough who impressed in taking Brett Johns to the limit as a substitute finalist in the recent Bantamweight title tournament.

It’s a cracking card, it’s on at a reasonable hour (in the UK anyway) and it’s free. What’s not to like?

For tickets and viewing information across the world, go here.

Cage Warriors 62: Countdown Video

Ahead of this weekend’s stacked Cage Warriors 62 card in Newcastle, the promotion have released this Countdown show giving a little more insight into the fighters competing.

Headlined by Neil Seery making the first defence of his Flyweight championship against former UFC fighter Ulysses Gomez and with a great supporting cast including Curt Warburton, Chris Fishgold, Olivier Pastor, Liam James, Alex Enlund, Dan Hope and others it’s a great card.

Don’t take our word for it, watch the video!

Cage Warriors 55 Results / Reaction

Sat, 01 Jun 2013
Dublin, Ireland

Irish eyes are smiling.

Fighters from the Emerald Isle went 3-1-1 on the shows main card as Cage Warriors produced another quality show, roared on by the always vocal Dublin crowd.

In the main event, Cathal Pendred showed his quality against a strangely lethargic Che Mills by bullying him around the cage for two and a bit rounds (Mills was pretty much saved by the bell in the second) and earning a TKO in the third with Pendred laying on the ground and pound and Mills’ corner throwing in the towel, only for referee Marc Goddard to be told by Mills that he’d hurt his shoulder.

It was a standout performance from Pendred who has surely earned a call up for UFC Boston in August. He might not be the most entertaining fighter, but he’s damned effective and has defeated several top class opponents in a row.

Mills on the other hand, slides into a losing way (officially, barring Matt Riddles drugs punishment he would be 0-2 at the moment) and such a bloodless display followed by managing to miss weight for a title fight leaves him with a lot of ground to make up.

Much as I like Mills as a fighter, it seems that Dana White’s accusation of him ‘giving up’ seems less unfair than it did. I hope he comes back to form next time, I really do.

The co-main event saw veteran Neil Seery come back from being bullied about by the larger and younger Mikael Silander at the start to take the second round and then claim the stoppage victory with an incisive armbar in the third.

You’d have gotten pretty long odds on a Seery victory by tapout, but it’s almost the perfect way for him to win here. Always an underdog, I couldn’t be happier that at a point where he was taking his career one fight at a time, considering retirement, he’s become a world champion.

Cage Warriors now have two of their four active championships in the hands of Irish fighters and with Conor McGregor blazing a trail in the UFC, it’s a stunning time for Irish MMA.

Elsewhere on the card, former Middleweight champion Chris Fields forced a majority draw with Norman Paraisy after the Frenchman took the first two rounds, but took a point deduction for grabbing the fence that made his advantage only 19-18 going into the third.

Paraisy seemed convinced that he had the fight won, and stayed with a successful plan of taking Fields down, only to give up a deep kimura that changed the tide of the contest.

Fields was in the ascendancy and Paraisy seemed convinced he’d already won and just stood there grinning as Fields tagged him time and again. Sadly, Fields was too tired at this point to push for the stoppage but a head kick and flurry at the end secured him the third round.

Two judges saw it as a draw, while one gave Fields the third 10-8 for a comeback victory, but on balance that’s a majority draw. Fields seemed upset by the result, but given that he didn’t actually come close to finishing Paraisy, and given that even a 10-8 would only have earned a draw had Paraisy not been docked a point, I don’t think he can complain.

Paraisy on the other hand lost a win on his record by being cocky in the third round.

It ain’t over till its over!

Opening the main card, Lightweight Paul Redmond and Bantamweight Jean N’Doye scored impressive second round submission wins over Marc Allen and Steve McCombe respectively to extend impressive winning streaks and possible put themselves in contention for the two title tournaments coming up late in the year.

A great show as usual and free to view around the world. That’s why Cage Warriors are one of my favourite promotions. I can’t wait to tune in on July 6th where I expect another cracker from them.

RESULTS

• Cathal Pendred def. Che Mills via TKO (corner stoppage) – Round 3, 1:47 – non-title fight after Mills missed weight
• Neil Seery def. Mikael Silander via submission (armbar) – Round 3, 3:57 – to claim inaugural flyweight title
• Chris Fields vs. Norman Paraisy results in a majority draw (29-27 Fields, 28-28, 28-28) – Round 3, 5:00
• Paul Redmond def. Marc Allen via submission (toehold) – Round 2, 1:09
• Jean N’Doye def. Steve McCombe via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 2, 3:03

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Piotr Ptasinski def. John Redmond via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 4:46
• Liam James def. Stephen Coll via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Konrad Iwanowski def. Sam Francis via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 2, 3:00
• Ben Rees def. Gavin Kelly via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 4:44

Cage Warriors 55 – Seery vs. Silander Title Match Preview

Sat, 01 Jun 2013
Dublin, Ireland
The Helix

In place of the originally proposed tournament (the loss of which makes me sad, that would have been AWESOME) the first ever Cage Warriors Flyweight (125lb) title will be contested between Irish veteran, Neil Seery (12-9) and rising Finnish star, Mikael Silander (8-1). That’s a pretty damned good Plan B.

Seery himself clearly feels that he needs to win, else his career will enter a winding down phase as he told CageWarriors.com that he ‘can’t afford any backward steps.’

I don’t think it’s as drastic as all that, after all, this is a man who’s career started with a 1-4 run, and he’s gone 11-5 since while facing some of the best lighter weight fighters in Europe. Also, a 5-1 run doesn’t exactly scream ‘downslide.’

Currently riding a three fight win streak since an early 2012 submission loss to Artemij Sitenkov, Seery stamped his ticket for title contention with a stunning first round liver kick knockout of Paul Marin at CWFC 53 in Glasgow.

I had the good luck to be at that show, and I’m still sympathetically feeling that kick. I can’t imagine how Marin feels.

Standing in his way of a place in the history books is a much younger fighter, making his debut in Cage Warriors, Mikael Silander.

Silander is only on a 1-0 streak with his October win over Wade Choate in Finland being preceded by his sole career loss to Ali Bagautinov last June.

Yeah, that’s a loss at the hands of the judges, to a Russian fighter, in Russia. Just saying.

Fightmatrix (my preferred source of objective rankings) rank Seery as #100 in the world, with Silander well ahead at #50. However, as usual, rankings don’t tell the story.

As I’ve seen first hand, Seery is a deadly striker, but also has a dangerous submission game and trains out of one of Ireland’s top gyms at Team Ryano.

Sure, he’s shown a tendency to get submitted but if we’re honest, getting tapped by the likes of Artemij Sitenkov, James Doolan and Paul McVeigh isn’t anything to be ashamed of.

Of course, submissions are Silander’s speciality with half of his eight wins coming via making his opponent shout ‘uncle’.

So who wins? The veteran with home advantage, or the newcomer with no weaknesses revealed as yet?

As ever, I have no idea but will advise one thing. Pay attention, because this will not be a fight for those who like things to go at a restrained pace.

You can watch the main card on MMAJunkie.com (North America), Joe.ie (Ireland), Sportstube.tv (Italy) and CageWarriors.tv (everywhere else, including UK & Ireland) starting at 9pm local time, preceded by Facebook prelims at 7:45 pm local time.

Stay tuned for our previews of the night’s compelling undercard over the next few days and remember to add @TeamKumite on Twitter for live commentary on the night.

MAIN
• Cathal Pendred vs. Che Mills – for welterweight title
• Neil Seery vs. Mikael Silander – for inaugural flyweight title
• Chris Fields vs. Norman Paraisy
• Marc Allen vs. Paul Redmond
• Henry Fadipe vs. Mike Ling

PRELIMINARY (Facebook)
• Avi Jack vs. Philip Mulpeter
• Stephen Coll vs. Liam James
• Piotr Ptasinski vs. John Redmond

Seery vs. Silander set for Flyweight Title at Cage Warriors 55

An inaugural CWFC flyweight title bout has been set for Cage Warriors 55 at The Helix in Dublin, Ireland, on Saturday, June 1.

Dublin’s own Neil Seery and Finnish star Mikael Silander will clash in a bid to become Cage Warriors’ first ever 125lbs champion.

Officials had scheduled to determine the new title-holder via a four-man tournament to be contested on the night, but with several potential participants being ruled out in recent weeks, a bout for the vacant belt has been fixed instead.

“I’m disappointed that we haven’t been able to keep the tournament on the card, but a few of the fighters at the top of our list had become unavailable due to injuries or having fights scheduled on other shows,” explained Cage Warriors CEO Graham Boylan.

“Neil Seery has been the top performer in our flyweight division over the last year or so, while Mikael Silander is one of the best in Europe and was already contracted to take part in the tournament.

“It will definitely make for a fitting fight to crown the first ever Cage Warriors flyweight champion. We also still have our bantamweight and lightweight tournaments to look forward to later in the year.”

Seery (12-9), ranked third in Europe, has put together a 4-1 record since making his debut under the Cage Warriors banner with a KO win against Niko Gjoka in October 2011.

Since dropping a loss to Artemij Sitenkov at Cage Warriors 46, the 33-year-old Irishman has embarked on a run of three consecutive wins, the most recent of which saw him dispose of Paul Marin with a stunning liver-kick KO at Cage Warriors 53 in Glasgow last weekend.

Seery said: “I’m very grateful to Cage Warriors for giving me this title shot. I feel at home fighting for Cage Warriors and the opportunity to become their first flyweight champion is a great privilege, especially in my hometown. I can’t wait for June 1. “

Silander (8-1) has put together an impressive record since making his professional debut in September 2010, with his only defeat to date coming via a close decision against European number two Ali Bagautinov.

Holding notable wins over highly-ranked opponents such as Michal Hamrsmid and Toni Tauru, 27-year-old Silander is currently seventh in the European rankings.

“I’m truly honoured to be given the opportunity to win the first ever Cage Warriors flyweight title,” said Silander. “This fight comes at a perfect time in my career. I’ve been training really hard and it will be an awesome chance to showcase my skills to a wider audience.”

Meanwhile, Neil Seery’s Team Ryano colleague Paul Redmond will be searching for a fifth straight CWFC win at Cage Warriors 55 when he faces Marc Allen.

Redmond (7-3) has risen rapidly up the rankings following wins over Yuri Malko, Lew Long, Ryan Roddy and Alexei Roberts – all by second-round stoppage – since making his Cage Warriors debut last June.

The 26-year-old Dubliner said: “I can’t wait to be back in there again, especially on another stacked card in Dublin. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep the winning run going.”

Allen (7-2), who’ll be fighting for CWFC for the first time in his career, has been victorious in each of his last three outings and will join team-mate Che Mills on the Cage Warriors 55 bill.

“This is going to be a fast and exciting fight,” said Allen, a 30-year-old Englishman. “I plan to take Redmond into deep waters with my wrestling.”

Cage Warriors 55 will also feature a CWFC welterweight title bout between defending champion Cathal Pendred and Che Mills, with many more fights also still to be announced.

Tickets, priced from just €35, are available HERE.

We’ll keep you updated with all the Cage Warriors news as it breaks.