WHILE THE UFC takes a well-deserved break after its exertions in Las Vegas last weekend there’s some action a little closer to home well worth getting excited about.
The Helix in Dublin hosts Cage Warriors 55 tonight. Attention turns to the formidable welterweight champion, Cathal Pendred as he looks to become the next Irish sensation to make waves in the UFC.
Top Irish talent is the theme of the night at Cage Warriors 55 as Neil Seery takes on Mikael Silander for the honour of becoming the inaugural flyweight champion while Chris Fields and Paul Redmond are also in action.
Can Pendred follow McGregor’s lead?
Cathal Pendred and Conor McGregor train together, have appeared together (dapper suits and all) on The Late Late Show recently, both were the subjects of MTV documentaries and each man harbours realistic hopes of becoming the first Irish UFC champion. Although the similarities are striking, McGregor holds a trump card over his teammate — a UFC contract.
As Irish fans constantly pester Dana White alerting him to the talent of Pendred, he still hasn’t received the call although there seems to be a consensus that if he wins against ex-UFC veteran Che Mills, then surely it will be his time to make the step-up. While not as flamboyant as McGregor, what he lacks in exuberance he makes up in hard work and intelligence and his fighting ability means he has a genuine chance of becoming a star on the biggest stage of all. But it would be a mistake to look past Mills.
Mills, who failed to make the weight yesterday meaning it will unfortunately be a non-title fight, managed to get four UFC fights under his belt before being somewhat harshly cut form the organisation and makes his first appearance since that happened meaning his pedigree and hunger are not it question.
On paper it’s a very close fight and there’s no doubt it promises to be a tough fight for Pendred but with a shot at making it in the UFC tantalisingly close and with a massive crowd expected to spur him on, expect another Irishman to be on the UFC roster in the near future.
YouTube credit: themmaclinic
Elsewhere on that card, Neil Seery who has been around the Irish MMA circuit for a long time finally gets a shot at becoming a champion as he takes on Mikael Silander in the flyweight division. Seery has proved time and again what a capable and durable fighter he is and his title shot is just reward for years of great service to Irish MMA.
Former Cage Contender middleweight champion Chris “The Killing” Fields is looking to get back to winning ways with a victory over Nick Paraisy on Saturday. Fields has recorded a number of video blogs in the lead-up to this fight showing what it is like to train with other SBG Ireland members such as Paddy Hoolahan and Conor McGregor as well as showing how he relaxes with an important fight coming up.
YouTube credit: severemma
