What to expect from the UFC’s Irish fighters in 2016

WOW! What a year.

Between Conor McGregor, Joe Duffy, Paddy Holohan, Neil Seery, Paul Redmond, Aisling Daly and Cathal Pendred, we saw 19 UFC fights featuring Irish fighters in 2015. The Irish went 12-7 for the year and unfortunately there have been some casualties with Redmond being cut from the roster and Pendred announcing his retirement. But the year ended on the biggest positive of all as 'The Notorious' returned to Ireland with the undisputed UFC featherweight title in hand. Can 2016 top 2015? Here's what we're expecting from the Irish contingent over the next 12 months. Conor McGregor has been one of the most active fighters on the UFC roster since bursting onto the scene and has averaged three fights a year since 2013. And there's nothing to suggest that the newly crowned 145 lb kingpin can't replicate that activity in 2016. He has indicated a desire to move up to lightweight next to take on Rafael dos Anjos who defended his title against Donald Cerrone at UFC on Fox 17. McGregor's coach, John Kavanagh, has hinted that that fight could take place at April's UFC 198 before his fighter drops back down in an attempt to defend his title against Frankie Edgar at UFC 200 in July. Depending on the results of those fights, why not get him to fight again in December? And if he's still the champ, a Jose Aldo rematch makes sense to us to close out 2016, presuming the Brazilian wins a tune-up fight in the meantime. Joe Duffy is likely the closest Irish fighter to a title shot as he looks to improve on his already perfect UFC record of two wins inside the distance. He faces ranked lightweight Dustin Poirier at UFC 195 and could well break into the top 15 with a victory. With the 155 lb division being so stacked, it's unlikely that Duffy gets a title shot in 2016 but he could very well be in the top five lightweights in the world if he beats Poirier and perhaps beats another ranked fighter like Edson Barboza in the summer. Paddy Holohan will be disappointed with how 2015 came to a close. After winning his first two fights of the year, 'The Hooligan' came unstuck against Louis Smolka in Dublin. There's nothing for him but to get back on the horse and possibly look at a fight on the undercard of UFC 197 which is rumoured to have been changed from its original location of Brazil. Flyweight is one of the most shallow divisions and we wouldn't be opposed to seeing Paddy take on Joby Sanchez, who lost on the undercard of The Ultimate Fighter 22 finale. It would be an interesting stylistic match-up and could set up another fight in Dublin, presuming the octagon returns to the Irish capital next year. Aisling Daly will be loving life after her showing at UFC Dublin and will buzzing to get back in the octagon in the new year. Her confidence will be at all-time high after dismantling BJJ expert Ericka Almeida in October and she should be given the opportunity to move up the rankings because she's too talented to be unranked in such a small division. 'Ais the Bash' has spoken at length about how she'd like to take on Paige VanZant and prove that the hype isn't as real as many might think. The fight makes plenty of sense now that VanZant lost to Rose Namajunas in December so why not put them together on one of the fight nights in late March or early April. It would be a great moneymaker for Daly too! And win or lose against VanZant, Daly would be a no-brainer to include on the likely UFC Dublin card in 2016 as she got the biggest crowd reaction last time around. Neil Seery should literally fight as many times as possible this year because we worry about the day that the 36-year-old hangs up his gloves. He's coming off a tremendous victory in Dublin and ought to be matched up with a bigger name than Jon Delos Reyes in his next bout. We hope he'll get someone along the lines of Sergio Pettis on one of the U.S.A. cards in March/April but it wouldn't surprise us to see '2 Tap' matched up with Richie Vaculik in March's Australia event as they were supposed to fight before but Seery injured his ribs. After that, another Dublin bout would be on the cards for him. We're not calling time on his career just yet but how terrific would it be to see Seery finish out his fighting days in the 3Arena in 2016 with another victory?