UFC Fight Night 99 Primer: Another Side to Irish MMA

Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sherdog.com, its affiliates and sponsors or its parent company, Evolve Media.* * * Two distinct groups have emerged in MMA over the last year, with Conor McGregor on one side and everyone else on the other. He has shattered pay-per-view records, brought home unprecedented pay and taken himself to a place no mixed martial artist ever has been. McGregor is playing a game with which we are not familiar.That has been the case for quite a while in Ireland. Even when McGregor, to quote “Mystic Mac” himself, “hadn’t a pot to piss in,” he was still quite different from other fighters. He had the championship potential, the personality and the star quality. For better or worse, McGregor and his ravenous fans have for many become the face of Irish MMA. To an extent, that’s accurate. A huge wave of new fans came to the sport through McGregor and everything he brings to the table. However, there’s another side to MMA in Ireland. Yes, there’s a side to the sport that was there before McGregormania went into effect, from people who were involved in local MMA clubs and taking jiu-jitsu classes to those who stayed up until 6 a.m. to catch the latest cage fighting event on the other side of the world. That group is mirrored in the Ultimate Fighting Championship by Neil Seery, a man who will fight for the last time at UFC Fight Night 99 on Saturday at the SSE Hydro Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Like many of those longtime fans, Seery works full-time to support a family he adores. The one difference: While they are driving to work in the morning, he is running to his job to incorporate extra cardio before getting in a few additional hours of night training with his Team Ryano brethren on the north side of the capital. That commitment, sometimes in spite of circumstance, made Seery a …

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