Neil Seery: New deal won’t make me complacent

Irish flyweight Neil ‘2 Tap’ Seery broke the news of his new four-fight deal to SevereMMA.com last month on the announcement of his UFC 189 date with Louis Smolka.

Although contract extensions usually represent a certain amount of job security, the same does not always apply to MMA. Given that, Seery claimed he would be putting the deal to the back of his head in the lead up to UFCs 189. According to the Team Ryano man, nothing is guaranteed on the back of the new contract and he has learned from other fighters not to get complacent on the back of signing on the dotted line.

“I’m going to be honest with you, I really don’t care about the four-fight deal,” he said. “I don’t mean that in a bad way, I just think some fighters become very complacent when they think their futures are guaranteed. They think the pressure is off, but it never is. That’s why I fight every fight like it’s my last.

“Look at Luke Barnatt. He was 3-0 in UFC at one stage and now he’s cut. He went on a three-fight skid and now he’s gone. They were treating him like he was the best thing since sliced bread and now he’s gone. He was brought everywhere, he was doing all of the Q and As, but it’s all over now.

“Fuck taking the pressure off, I’ll keep it exactly where it’s been since day one. I’m not taking anything for granted, UFC don’t have to honor that contract if I don’t come up with the performances. I’m keeping the same pressure on myself and that’s what makes me dangerous.

“I’m not going to be sitting back and hoping I can pip a decision and then on to the next fight. It doesn’t work like that.”

Seery’s pugilistic display against Chris Beal seems to have woken up the MMA world to the skillset of the Irishman. Boasting some of the best boxing in the flyweight division, Seery expects Smolka to take him to the ground as soon as he feels his power – like the rest of the opponents he has faced.

He said: “It usually only takes a couple of clips and they come in shooting for my legs. Chris Beal said he wanted to test his boxing against mine and in round one he was shooting for a takedown. Phil Harris looked for takedowns for the whole 15 minutes we were fighting. Brad Pickett was shooting in the first, second and third.

“That means I keep my power throughout the entire fight. All of these flyweights – I will catch them, I will hurt them and they will all dive for my feet. I’ve proved that in every one of my flyweight fights. I’ve got serious power and these guys are panicking.

“You know you have to be good everywhere though, and there a lot of people that underestimate my ground game. Let them underestimate me. It’s an MMA fight as Smolka said. I told him I wanted to stand and bang but he told me that he’d do what he wants. He’s right, he can do whatever he wants, but can I shut him down and stop him? Only time will tell.”

Seery also spoke about the fact that both he and Paul Redmond will not be cornering each other as they take on challenges in Vegas and Glasgow within a week of one another. The Ryano man also claimed he was certain he would be on the UFC’s Scottish card before he getting the news about UFC 189.

“I won’t be in his corner and he won’t be in mine. It was already marked out because initially I thought I was going to be on the Scotland card myself. Everything had been decided and then I got the text from UFC about Vegas. I honestly thought someone was messing with me! I thought Scotland was a done deal.”

@PetesyCarroll