You can’t help but feel for Neil Seery after what happened in Belfast this week.
Seery was set to bow out of the sport for good at UFC Belfast on Saturday night against fellow fight veteran Ian McCall.
The former Cage Warriors champion completed his training camp, made the 126 lb weight limit and even came face-to-face with ‘Uncle Creepy’ during the media day for the event, but about 24 hours before fight night the bout was scrapped entirely.
McCall ‘became ill’ in the lead-up to the weigh-in, was taken to hospital and was forced to withdraw from the fight. It marked the fourth time in 2016 McCall had made it to fight week without actually stepping into the Octagon.
With not enough time to find a suitable stand-in to fight ‘2 Tap’, the Dubliner was left with no option other than continuing his weight cut for the official weigh-ins so he could walk away with the consolation prize of his show money.
Fuck all else matters once @Unclecreepymma is alright we can always do it again get healthy pal 👊🇮🇪
— Neil 2 Tap Seery (@NeilSeeryMMA) November 18, 2016
Seery hinted that he won’t end his storied career on such an anticlimactic note, but considering he was ready to fight on Saturday night and was unable to through no fault of his own, some have suggested that he should receive his win bonus as well as his show money.
This argument is strengthened by the fact that McCall received both when Justin Scoggins was forced out of their scheduled fight at UFC 201 earlier this year after failing to make weight. Like Seery for Belfast, it wasn’t McCall’s fault that he had no opponent for the event and the promotion compensated him accordingly.
However, the win bonus isn’t the only payment Seery is missing out on after his fight fell through. There is also the small matter of his sponsorship money.
@Reebok I made weight you can not pay me not my fault fight didn't happen 😡
— Neil 2 Tap Seery (@NeilSeeryMMA) November 20, 2016
Under the revamped Reebok payout structure with the UFC, fighters must exclusively wear Reebok apparel at all events during fight week including the weigh-ins and the fight itself. They receive a Reebok payout each time they fight, with the amount they receive linked to how many fights they’ve had under the UFC, Strikeforce and WEC banners.
Since Seery would have been competing in his seventh UFC fight in the SSE Arena, he would have received a payout of $5,000. However, he is claiming on Twitter that he has not received the money and there are no signs to suggest that he will.
While the Reebok deal has been vastly unpopular since the UFC signed the deal in 2014 and they tend to be an easy target when the proverbial hits the fan, the sportswear behemoths aren’t responsible for seeing that the fighters get paid. According to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani, it is up to the UFC to pay the fighters.
A Reebok rep just called @NeilSeeryMMA's coach @bjjnorthside, I'm told, to explain Reebok doesn't decide who gets paid & how much. All UFC.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) November 20, 2016
That's been the case since the beginning of deal, but doesn't mean it's not very flawed. Any regular sponsor would usually pay in this case.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) November 20, 2016
But again, Reebok gets the bad press here. Just like the win bonus, Seery (and anyone else in this case) should get sponsor money too.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) November 20, 2016
Here’s hoping ‘2 Tap’ gets what he wants. After all that’s happened, he definitely deserves it.
UPDATE: MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn is now reporting that Seery will indeed be receiving his Reebok payout in full. The system works!
I'm told @NeilSeeryMMA will indeed be paid his Reebok Athlete Outfitting Policy money after all. $5,000.
— Mike Bohn (@MikeBohn) November 20, 2016
