Cage Warriors flyweight world champion, Neil “2 Tap” Seery has blasted Ulysses Gomez, the first scheduled challenger to his crown, who collapsed while trying to make weight for last weekend’s Cage Warriors 62 headline bout.

In this exclusive interview with PETER CARROLL, the champion reveals how he found out the incident had happened, the problems he has with some aspects of his opponent’s collapse and why he believes Gomez should never fight for Cage Warriors again.

On Friday morning in Newcastle, whispers began to emerge about an accident Ulysses Gomez was involved in that would see him out of the following night’s main attraction. Neil Seery, who was to defend his title for the first time against the American, was none the wiser despite his Team Ryano companions having already heard the news.

“I was only told 10 or 15 minutes before the weigh ins,” said an agitated Seery. “Andy and the lads in my corner were keeping it under wraps, they knew about it but they didn’t want me to fly off the handle. In the end it was actually Brian Adams, Phil Harris’s coach, who let it slip.

“We were just standing around waiting to weigh in and he said, ‘sorry to hear about your fight’, and then Andy explained what happened. I was in shock, ‘what are you on about’, I was asking them. Even though I didn’t want to, Andy told me I had to be professional and go and prove that I had made weight.

“I did it in the end, but do you think I wanted to? I felt like a fucking idiot up there weighing in with no opponent. I was raging and I only got more pissed off when we heard what was supposed to have happened.”

Although the Dubliner insists he didn’t know anything about the fight being called off, he did reveal that in hindsight, there were some signs that the challenger was finding the cut difficult. The champion also outlined some problems he had with the cutting process of Gomez, claiming the American failed to act accordingly in the knowledge that he was too heavy.

“When we got to the hotel on Thursday night I checked my weight using the official scales and when I was on the way in, Gomez was walking out.

“We had a hand shake and he told me he’d see me on Saturday, everything seemed alright. That night I weighed in at 133 lbs and I asked the guy who was there what Gomez had weighed and he told me he was at 140.

“So he’s five pounds off bantamweight never mind flyweight, and when I went out to the lobby to get something to eat I see him there sitting on his hole. Now he’s 140 the day before a weigh in and he’s not trying to cut weight? It makes no sense,” said Seery.

The Irishman also criticised a lot of the details of the accident that came to the surface. It is the opinion of the Ryano stalwart that Gomez’s weight cutting practices that led to the injury aren’t only uncommon, but virtually unheard off within the MMA community.

“He was supposed to be on a treadmill – nobody uses treadmills to cut weigh anymore,” said Seery. “He was supposed to be on his own when it happened, but cutting weight is one of the most dangerous things involved in this sport. When I was in the baths on Thursday night Andy was with me the whole time and then the next day Redser was with me.

“People are using baths, saunas and exercise bikes at a push for these things nowadays. Treadmills are never used because there’s a possibility of people falling and cracking their head because they’re drained trying to get the weight down. You can really fuck yourself up.

“For him to be by himself and on a treadmill doesn’t make sense. We met the guy who found him the next day in the swimming pool. He was heading into the gym for a small workout and he found him on the deck with no one else around.”

The Baldoyle based champion explained how he had completely lost respect for the two time UFC competitor and disclosed how his own weight cut was far from straight forward going into the contest.

“I haven’t got a screed of respect for him or his team,” declared Seery. “I actually feel like I’ve lost the fight. When I started my ten week camp I had been away on holiday and I’d been at my brother’s wedding, I weighed about 68kg.

“I was five pounds short of being a lightweight and I can remember getting up and the scales and Redser couldn’t believe the weight I had on me. I just went on a strict diet, I really put a lot into it but that doesn’t mean shit now.

“There’s no way he weighed more than me heading into that fight, he couldn’t have been heavier. I’ve heard no more than anyone else, Gomez or his team didn’t even approach me to apologise – they’re an absolute disgrace.”

Seery went on to lambast Gomez for not only letting down Team Ryano and his friends that travelled from far and wide to see the champion’s first defence, but Cage Warriors who put a lot of money into promoting the fight.

“He fucked up a lot for me, my team and the friends that travelled over to see me. One of my friends spent €1100 to come over and see the fight from the States and all of my team paid their own way to get over there. We all have better things to be doing than switching our lives off for 10 weeks and leaving our families. He fucked us all.

“Cage Warriors spent a lot of money on the guy as well. They had the camera crew out with me, at my job and then they did the same for him. I’m sure it was expensive to send so many guys out to Vegas and he’s just thrown that back in their faces.

“He had been in the hotel since Monday. The place had fantastic facilities for cutting weight – sauna, Jacuzzi and a fully kitted out gym – but unfortunately it had some nice food as well judging by what happened with him.”

Although many believe Gomez’s collapse to be a freak accident, Seery is adamant that the Cobra Kai fighter only has himself and his team to blame, insisting they could’ve saved the fight had they acted earlier.

“The thing that’s annoying me more than anything is the fact that he could have said something or his team could’ve said something. They had plenty of opportunities but that just shows you the lack of professionalism they have. He’s a joke and so are his team.

“They’re the ones to blame, they could have had the decency to say it to someone. I didn’t ever have a say in what was going on. Had he went to someone from Cage Warriors and told them that he wasn’t going to make the weight – which he must’ve known if he was 140 the night before the weigh in – we could’ve sorted something.

“I’ve fought in all different kinds of divisions, I would’ve happily taken 25% of his purse and let him compete at bantamweight. I don’t know why it didn’t happen, we were both there. Instead of being a professional and letting people know what the story was, he just sat in his room tweeting bollocks,” said the flyweight.

The 34 year old has never been known for his social media prowess, but enraged after situation unravelled on Friday he blew off some steam on various platforms forcing reactions from Gomez.

“It’s not usually my thing but I was pissed off and I start sending pictures out on Twitter or whatever, he sent a message back saying ‘I’m still here’ or something like that. Yeah, he was there hiding in his room with his team, nobody saw them for the whole weekend. They’re a bunch of cowards.

“I finally saw him on Sunday when we arrived at the airport. That was the only time since everything happened that we were in the same room and he still didn’t come over to apologise until I prompted him.

“The tweet he sent out made it sound like we’d fight if we were in the same room, I had to wave at him to get him to come over. He was sitting there eating a burger and chips funnily enough, and I honestly think he would’ve sat there and not bothered to come over had I not waved at him.

“I had been in the venue and watched the card, he didn’t even turn up. All the time we’d been in the hotel not having a clue what had happened, we were trying to piece it together and he gave us no information. I wasn’t even thinking about how the fight would’ve gone, whether I won or not didn’t matter, the guy is just a coward. He didn’t even have the balls to apologise and now here he is walking over because he’s been forced to.

“My friend that was with me just told him to fuck off when he came over. We were sick and we still are. We’re meant to be fighters, who cares if he fell off a treadmill? He didn’t bang his head or hurt himself – let’s fight. Who does that? He should’ve got up off the deck and went on with his day,” he said.

Without the test he had trained so diligently for coming to fruition, Seery confessed that he has taken a big knock from the ordeal.

“Today I’m feeling embarrassed. I feel like I’ve let everyone down. I feel like I lost a fight on Saturday because he took it away from me. I don’t think he should fight for Cage Warriors again, never mind the title. He just didn’t bother his bollocks to get ready.”

It was widely speculated that a big win for the Irishman over Gomez could put him in the running for a spot on the UFC’s Dublin card, but before the fight Seery made it clear that it wasn’t something he had thought about. However, only when the opportunity had been completely taken away from him did the champion acknowledge the poignancy of the bout.

“I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t even thought about it. Obviously, you had asked me before I went and I told you it wasn’t something I really cared about, but now it’s hard not to.

“If that coward had have fought me and I won, there’s a good chance my name would’ve been on the shortlist for that UFC Dublin show. The other thing is that I knew he was a good opponent, I knew he would be a big test for me.

“All credit to Cage Warriors, they offered me a fight on the Jordan card straight away when they knew, it wasn’t their fault he let them down. I was just mentally fucked after everything, I still don’t even know when I want to fight again and I don’t have a clue who I’d want to fight.

“I just don’t think he deserves another shot. I understand Cage Warriors had to call the fight off, but I don’t know why he’s saying he wanted to fight. His laziness is the only reason it didn’t happen. On Thursday night he was 140lbs and he was sitting there doing nothing straight after finding that out, anyone else would be cutting. He could’ve lost five pounds over night.

“I genuinely think he can’t make that weight anyway. It seems to be a reoccurring theme with guys that fight after they’ve been in the UFC. Maybe they don’t take it seriously or something, I remember Che Mills missing weight against Cathal too, it’s just not good enough,” he said.

Seery finished by thanking his coaches and apologising to the people who had come to see him, still clearly shouldering some of the blame for a situation he had no control over.

“I just want to thank Andy, I feel awful and I know he feels exactly the same way. He sacrificed so much time to get me ready for this fight as well as the other guys who came over. I want to apologise to all my friends who came over to see me as well.

“Cage Warriors deserve a lot of credit for how they built this fight up as well, it’s not their fault that this happened. They’ve been thrown under the bus by this guy, but they’re not to blame.”

By Peter Carroll – @PetesyCarroll

Photo: Dolly Clew | Cage Warriors