Neil Seery gave Brad Pickett a run for his money tonight at UFC Fight Night 37, but while he matched him on the feet, he came off second best on the mat and that lead to Pickett earning the unanimous decision victory.
Round One:
Pickett working behind the jab to start. He land a low leg kick, then doubles up on the jab. Seery unleashing with a few punches that don’t hit the mark and Pickett clubs him with a solid hook.
Pickett thinks about a takedown, but nothing doing. The two exchange hard blows in close that just miss the mark.
Pickett knocked back a little, but nothing to it, he was just off-balance. They continue throwing meaty strikes and there’s a brief stoppage as Pickett gets a finger in the eye.
He’s ok and they are right back to winging punches at each other. Then Pickett swoops in and lands a nice takedown.
Pickett working from a locked down Seery guard here. He hoists him up and drops him back to the mat, but Seery still clings to him tightly.
Now Pickett works to half guard. There’s a moment when Seery almost reverses, but Pickett rights himself and stays on top.
Pickett’s suddenly got an arm triangle attempt on the go and switches over to Seery’s other side to finish it, but Seery does well to scramble out and Pickett ends up in his half-guard again.
Seery manages to get back upright as Pickett transitions to side control. Back on their feet the two are eager to trade punches, but before they can really let fly the bell sounds.
Round Two:
Pickett starts with the jab again. Seery responding with hooks, and a few are landing. Seery lands a nother nice right hook.
Both men’s heads bounce back a little as they each connect simultaneously. Pickett attempting a takedown now against the cage, but isn’t successful and they break apart.
Pickett continuing to pressure, but Seery’s looked relaxed so far – impressive for a debut against a tough competitor.
Pickett leaps in with a nice straight punch down the pipe. ‘One Punch’ closes the distance and clinches up against the cage. Drops for a takedown, gets himself set and takes him down.
Seery again clamps down the closed guard. Pickett trying to find room, but his opponent’s doing his best to nullify Pickett’s opportunities to get offensive.
With half a minute left Pickett does get to half guard and lands a few blows before the bell sounds.
Round Three:
Early stages of round three and Pickett lands a punch at the same time as Seery connects with a big hook that knocks ‘One Punch’ slightly off-balance, but he resets and is ok.
Still plenty of pep in both men’s puunches at this stage in the fight. Seery continuing to have some success with hooks, then Pickett lands a solid one of his own.
Good exchanges here, but unfortunately there’s an unintentional eye poke to Pickett which forces another brief stoppage.
Seery with a nice one-two on the rest, but that only seems to fire Pickett up more as he presses forward with real purpose.
The newcomer doing really well though to meet fire with fire as they trade strikes.
Sensing that Seery is relishing this, Pickett opts to take him down again. It’s much the same as the other rounds as Pickett tries, but ultimately isn’t successful in getting past his opponent’s half guard.
Seery attempts to get up and Pickett looks for a guillotine, but Seery gets out and it’s back to the stand-up we go.
More punches fly from both men, and in the closing stages of the round Pickett secures another takedown and lands a few blows before the bell.
Decision:
Good performance from Seery here, but Pickett’s ground game was the most significant difference between them and he earns the unanimous decision victory ().
