Three of Ireland’s five representatives came away with victories at UFC Fight Night Dublin, with Norman Parke, Aisling Daly and Neil Seery all prevailing, but Paddy Holohan lost out in the main card and Cathal Pendred bowed out in the preliminaries.
There was heartbreak for Paddy ‘The Hooligan' Holohan at the hands of Louis Smolka in what was a newly appointed main card of the night, following the withdrawal of Joe Duffy. Both fighters came into this bout with a 3-1 record to their credit but it was Holohan who left with a second defeat.
After a thunderous welcome from the home crowd, the Dubliner thrived early on. He came out on the better side of some intense grappling and even managed to fit in two exemplary take-downs before the first interval.
As the chorus of Ole Ole’s enveloped the 3Arena, it looked as though 'The Hooligan' could go on to claim all the honours. He smothered and grounded Smolka after the restart and parried away a high kick; Holohan appeared to be the sharper contender.
But Smolka had a separate script in mind. After some more grappling on the canvas, Smolka mounted Holohan and unleashed a flurry of punches to the face before executing the choke attack that forced the submission.
Norman Parke prevailed against Reza Madadi in the other main event of the night. Tensions flared at the weigh-ins yesterday after Parke threw a handbag at his opponent as a symbolic reminder of the Swede’s recent time in jail.
Inside the octagon however, Madadi was the one who struck first when he pushed the Antrim man up against the cage and followed it up with a swift knee into the chest.
But apart from that initial burst, some sharp kicks from Parke and some grappling, the opening round of this lightweight fight lacked intensity.
Round two was more engaging for the first three minutes. The pair traded more forceful hits and the grappling had some zest. But it still seemed as if neither was ready to make a real investment in the combat.
Parke sneaked into the lead with the first take-down of the night in the final round before forcing Madadi back to the fence. The fight then petered out to a win for Parke by unanimous decision.
Neil Seery emerged victorious in a flyweight fight against Jon Delos Reyes. The 36 year-old forced an aggressive Reyes to tap out in the second round after executing a perfect guillotine choke.
It was a well-measured move on Seery’s part, but the outcome belies the pressure Seery was under for most of the encounter.
Reyes mounted Seery on several occasions and sent Seery crashing to the canvas with a take-down in the first minute of the second round. Seery was on the receiving end of a number of strikes from Reyes and struggled to counter with many of his own.
But Seery is known as ‘2 Tap,’ as five of his submission wins have been achieved on the ground, and he proved the legitimacy of that nickname against Reyes. He now extends his number of professional fights to 16.
Welterweight fighter Cathal Pendred was the first Irish contender to step into the octagon. But his search to rediscover some winning form ended in defeat when the 28 year-old succumbed to British fighter Tom Breese in the first round by submission.
The undefeated Breese laid the foundations for a TKO early into the round with a ferocious facial hit that drew blood from Pendred.
The Dubliner, backed by the unceasing chants of the crowd, attempted to compose himself with a rally. But when Breese lunged forward again towards the end of the first round, it was clear that Pendred was still reeling from the pang of that initial hit.
With the SBG fighter pinned against the cage, Breese moved in to unload a series of strikes and force an intervention from the referee.
And there was elation for straw-weight fighter Aisling Daly, who marked her Irish UFC debut with an emphatic win over Brazilian opponent Ericka Almeida.
Daly came into UFC 76 on the back of a defeat and her challenger arrived in Dublin having cultivated an impressive record of seven wins and just one loss.
