Neil Seery says he won’t receive Reebok pay for cancelled Ian McCall fight

The UFC’s latest trip to Belfast, Northern Ireland has now come and gone, and it was a very exciting card. Unfortunately, we lost one of the card’s most anticipated fights on the eve of battle, as fan favorite flyweight Ian McCall was forced out of a planned bout with Ireland’s Neil “2 Tap” Seery with an illness. The illness, which began before McCall undertook his weight cut, was severe enough to hospitalize him.

Despite the last minute cancellation of his fight  – which was intended to be his retirement bout – Seery was all class, and wished McCall a speedy recovery.

https://twitter.com/NeilSeeryMMA/status/799585141555425280

Yet while Seery was able to reconcile the cancellation of his retirement fight, he’s having a hard time swallowing Reebok’s refusal to pay him, despite the fact that he showed up and made weight for the fight.

https://twitter.com/NeilSeeryMMA/status/800357032456921089

The payment that fighters receive under the UFC’s outfitting deal with Reebok is based on the number of fights they’ve had in the UFC, and in the Zuffa-owned eras of WEC and Strikeforce. Having fought 6 times in the UFC’s Octagon, Seery falls into the second-lowest Reebok payment tier, which pays fighters with 6 to 10 fights in the aforementioned promotions $5,000 every time they compete.

As Ariel Helwani recently explained on Twitter, however, Reebok does not decide when fighters do and do not get paid in situations like these. That choice belongs to the UFC.

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

Luckily, Seery seems to have decided to take another fight rather than retire in the wake of this cancelled bout, so he will have one more opportunity to collect UFC and Reebok pay checks. According to Peter Carroll, he’s accepted a March bout with McCall, as well as a bout with England’s Brad Pickett at 135 pounds  – though Pickett is currently scheduled for a December date with Urijah Faber, who is also retiring.

ICYMI @NeilSeeryMMA told me that he wants to fight Ian McCall in March. He also said he accepted Pickett bout at 135 https://t.co/bSxEOy4Lhr

— Peter Carroll (@PetesyCarroll) November 18, 2016

What do you make of this unfortunate situation? Sound off, PENN Nation!