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UFC Belfast: Ian McCall's flyweight bout with Neil Seery cancelled after failure to make weight

The County Mesa-born flyweight is reportedly suffering from food poisoning and will not compete in Saturday's event

James Edwards
Friday 18 November 2016 17:41 GMT
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McCall has had three fights cancelled on the week of competition so far this year
McCall has had three fights cancelled on the week of competition so far this year (Getty)

There was high drama at a UFC early morning weigh-in once again on Friday as fighters missed weight and fights got cancelled ahead of UFC Fight Night 99 in Belfast.

For an incredible third time this year, Ian McCall has had his fight scrapped on fight week after he reportedly fell ill with food poisoning.

McCall was scheduled to face Neil Seery in a flyweight bout this Saturday, but the fight has been cancelled following McCall being unable to make weight this morning.

The County Mesa-born fighter has been hampered with bad luck in recent years, with a string of injuries and opponent changes forcing him to make only 6 UFC appearances since 2012.

Speaking to the press this week, McCall said he was excited to fight in Ireland again following his victory in Dublin in 2014 and often mentioned that he knew Seery would be professional and make it to fight night.

This is particularly upsetting development for Seery, who announced earlier this year that this would be his last fight in mixed martial arts and personally requested the fight with McCall in Belfast.

With Seery's name now off the bill, the only men with Irish passports left are Charlie Ward and Russian-born Irishman Artem Lobov.

At this point in time it is unknown if the fight will be rescheduled for a later date with Seery’s intention to retire and McCall recently stating that if he suffered another injury and had to go through another surgery, he would also retire from mixed martial arts.

Brad Pickett was on the scene during early weigh-ins campaigning to fill in for McCall on incredibly short notice, but he was denied the opportunity by matchmaker Sean Shelby.

All other fights on the card remain intact following the weigh-ins though welterweight Zak Cummings did miss his target by 1.8lbs when he tipped the scales at 172.8lbs.

His fight with Alexander Yakolev will still go ahead, but Cummings will be penalized 20% of his fight purse.

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