Sean Brady realized in the middle of his UFC London main event against Leon Edwards that he had won the fight.
After a competitive opening round, Brady fully took over and dominated the former UFC welterweight champion en route to a fourth-round guillotine choke victory on Saturday at The O2 Arena in London. Brady is now the only fighter to have finished Edwards across 28 professional bouts, and once “Rocky” began shooting for takedowns, the superior wrestler knew he had the fight in the bag.
“Leon’s a very technical fighter, but when you make it a real hard fight, he tends to break, and I could see he was breaking,” Brady said in his post-fight press conference. “And I knew he broke once he shot on me, because that’s the last place he wanted to be — on the ground with me. So once I knew he wanted to grapple with me, I knew it was going to be over soon.
“Leon’s a pretty striker. He likes to have his range and have things go on his terms,” the Philadelphia native added, “and once they start going off his terms, he does dumb s*** like shoot on me, and then it goes downhill from there.”
The result puts Edwards on his first career losing streak after previously dropping his title in a unanimous decision against Belal Muhammad this past July in Manchester. Ultimately, Muhammad laid out somewhat of a blueprint to beat Edwards: Relentless pressure accompanied by a never-ending wrestle-boxer approach.
If Muhammad built the blueprint, Brady believes he perfected it by performing better than the current champion against the same opponent.
“I did it a lot better than Belal did,” Brady said with a laugh. “I think Belal lost a couple rounds, he had his back taken for an entire round, I think it was 3-2 when they fought. I dominated Leon every round. No one’s ever done it like me. Then I submitted him and made him quit in front of his hometown. If we were in Philly, you ain’t making me quit in front of my hometown, I’ll tell you that. I’m going to sleep, son. So just remember that.”
Conveniently enough, Muhammad also holds the only blemish on Brady’s otherwise flawless record. The pair fought in October 2022, resulting in a Muhammad second-round stoppage, which Brady has repeatedly credited as the greatest thing to happen to his career.
Brady, 32, instantly became the welterweight division’s dark horse after the loss. He’s been counted out and overlooked often since, both by fans and his peers — including Edwards.
“I think that’s been going since Belal has been champion and did what he did to Leon,” Brady said. “Belal, if you look at his record, he has an amazing record. He has me on there, he has a lot of good guys on there. So for people to s*** on me for losing to him, it is what it is. That loss was the best thing that ever happened to me. Clearly, I’m on a nice little run here, and who’s the last person to finish Leon? Me. So, yeah, I’m doing pretty good.
“I don’t give a f***, you can think whatever you want to think about me. I’m here getting my hand raised, cashing checks, taking my team around the world and living my life.”
Having become a new father in February, Brady’s immediate plans after his biggest win yet are clear. He’s returning to Philadelphia to spend time with his family and bask in all the victories life has thrown his way these past two months, including a Super Bowl 59 victory for his beloved Philadelphia Eagles.
Brady could very well be the new No. 1-ranked contender at 170 pounds in the official UFC rankings come Tuesday, meaning he’s likely one fight away — at most — from a title shot against the winner of Muhammad vs. Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315 in Montreal on May 10.
Is the replacement fighter role possible for Brady? Yes. However, he sees himself as the worthy next contender in line — even if that means jumping would-be challengers like Shavkat Rakhmonov.
“Could be a possibility,” Brady said of taking a backup role at UFC 315. “I don’t think it’s too far of a flight from Philly. We’ll see.
“I don’t make those calls, the UFC does. But I think if you look at the people I’ve been beating versus Shavkat, I think I have a pretty good [case]. Gilbert Burns and Leon Edwards, my last two vs. his last two — I think his were ‘Wonderboy’ [Stephen Thompson] and Ian [Machado] Garry. So I got a nice little record going. I just want to keep adding names to my résumé and we’ll see what happens.”
