Newcomer Neil Seery thanks Irish fans' Twitter campaign for UFC contract

LONDON – It’s been a tale of two careers for Neil Seery. Now he’s starting on his third with his UFC debut.

If you want some idea of a fighter being a little off the radar, you need look no further than Seery’s banner at a UFC Fight Night 37 media day. Of eight 7-foot tall banners for the fighters on the main card, his was the only one without a photo on it – just his name and a fancy colored gradient background.

That, of course, is owed to his late-notice arrival to Saturday’s show at O2 Arena in London. But even Seery (13-9 MMA, 0-0 UFC) admits he didn’t see the call coming when the UFC asked for his services against Brad Pickett (23-8 MMA, 3-3 UFC) on the UFC Fight Pass-streamed main card.

“It was unbelievable. It’s hard to explain,” he told MMAjunkie on Wednesday. “I was down in the gym on a Monday night and was just playing around. I knew the campaign was going on to get me (in the UFC). But they came over to me and pulled me aside and said, ‘Neil, you’re getting a shot,’ I couldn’t believe it.”

For the first chapter of Seery’s MMA career, the Irishman admits he didn’t take things as seriously as he should have. The result? A 7-8 record bouncing around between bantamweight and featherweight.

But since then, spurred on, he said, by a drop to flyweight, he’s gone 6-1. And that got the Cage Warriors veteran that MMA dream scenario: the call from the UFC.

Seery said the campaign to get him in the UFC was the result of his countrymen in Ireland slamming the Twitter accounts of UFC President Dana White and matchmaker Sean Shelby.

It appears to have worked. When Ian McCall fell out of his fight with Pickett, who is making his flyweight debut, Seery got the short-notice call.

“It was everybody in Ireland – they tormented Sean Shelby and Dana White,” Seery said. “It was a big campaign in Ireland and it got my name out there. I had no idea whatsoever (it was coming). I was just training away as I always do. I knew Ian McCall got injured, but I didn’t really think I had the chance to fight Brad Pickett in London, on a big state, in a big arena. I didn’t really take much notice. Then they said the fight was mine.”

He jumps right into a fight that has him the biggest underdog on the card. Pickett, who will be fighting in front of his home London fans, and who will be dropping to flyweight for the first time after a lengthy run at bantamweight, is as much as a 6-to-1 favorite.

Seery said the betting lines don’t matter to him at all. Being the underdog appears to be a role he’s comfortable with.

“Betting means nothing in this game,” he said. “Sometimes the underdog wins. But everybody knows who Brad Pickett is. He’s been here, he’s done it. He’s coming down to a new weight, so we’ll just see on Saturday night how things go.”

Over the second chapter of his career, that 6-1 stretch with four finishes, Seery has had a new mentality thanks to being at 125 pounds. Calling flyweight the place where he found his home, he said the level of comfort in the weight class has paid dividends.

But if anyone thinks he was just glad to get the call from the UFC and is coming in just to take a fight, the way he used to in the first phase of his career, they’d best think again. Seery said he isn’t worried about expectations, but he appears to have no problem surprising people on Saturday.

“I don’t think there’s going to be that much pressure on me – nobody’s expecting me to win there,” he said. “But I’m here to win. I’m not just here to make numbers. Four opponents my last four wins, they’ve all been younger than me, and (I beat them). It’s standard for me now.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 37, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.