Sean Brady is taking no prisoners after his gigantic fourth-round submission of former UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards at UFC London this past Saturday.
The short-notice matchup appeared to be fairly respectful until fight week, when Brady met Edwards face-to-face. Speaking Monday on Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show,” the newly-minted top UFC welterweight contender recalled how he and Edwards had a staredown at London’s O2 Arena, which led to some unexpected banter.
“It literally took five seconds, but when we did it, we walked up to each other — and obviously, bro, I’m not 6-foot [tall]. I’m 5-foot-9,” Brady said. “I’ve never been tall. But he walked up to me and he was asking me about my height. He was being a d*** head. I was like, ‘Ah, I’m 5-foot-9. What’re you, 6-foot-2? You got those big shoes on.’ Just making a joke of it. Then we face off for legit five seconds, walked off. I don’t know if it was his manager, his brother and him — super awkward — they said some stupid-ass s*** and me and my team looked at him like, ‘Yo, you’re in London. This is your fight week. You’re b****ing about having to do some little-ass media?’
“From that point on, I’m not touching this dude’s hand. If he tries something stupid — because I’ve seen him try stupid s*** at the weigh-ins — I’m going to f***ing give it right back to this motherf***er. And that’s why at the weigh-ins, I didn’t touch his hand.
“I’m respectful,” Brady continued. “[Georges St-Pierre is] my favorite fighter, always respected guys. But when you’re an a**hole like that, I can give it right back. So personally, f*** Leon. F*** him and his whole team. That’s how I feel about the whole situation.”
Come fight night, Brady remained locked in and again didn’t touch gloves with Edwards before the action began. After a relatively competitive first round, Brady shined — the Philadelphian leaned on his strong wrestling game to dominate the ex-champ en route to an eventual fourth-round guillotine that made Brady the first person to finish “Rocky” in 28 professional fights.
Brady said he generally avoids social media during fight weeks to ignore any unnecessary distractions, however some of Edwards’ promotional footage slipped through the cracks in London. After seeing Edwards joke further about not being able to see the shorter Brady in the weigh-in crowd, Brady became a man on a mission, mocking his opponent both on Instagram and in his post-fight press conference after the victory.
Despite Edwards’ tough loss, Brady said nothing changed in regards to the former champion’s demeanor and antics immediately after the bout.
“That made it even worse,” he said of Edwards’ post-fight reaction. “I’m like, ‘Yo man, you’re a great champion.’ He just kind of like brushed me off. Obviously he’s upset, but even his whole team, they were corny as s*** too, so it was just whack. My coaches, my team didn’t even go over there. Like, ‘F*** that. We’re not saying s*** to these dudes.’ Even before they raised my hand, I tried to touch him behind [referee] Jason Herzog, and he’s just salty. Then, seeing all this s*** he was saying about me throughout the week, I wish I was even f***ing meaner to this dude. That’s why I posted the s*** about the ‘headshot, dead’ and them not having guns in London, because now I’m going to make fun of you, and I’m going to poke at you because you’re a f***ing a**hole. Maybe Belal [Muhammad] was right about him. He’s all butt hurt about all kinds of s***.
“I’ve seen him put the gun [gesture] to people’s heads at weigh-ins. If he puts that stupid-ass water pistol to my head at weigh-ins, I’m going to slap the f***ing s*** out of his hand. I was ready for all of it.
“That’s why when we did the faceoff, I walked right up and my nose was like on his lip,” Brady added. “Then he wasn’t looking at me. I’m like, ‘You’re not looking at me. You’re going to be looking at me tomorrow.’ So, hey, he’s somewhere crying in London right now, and I’m back, a happy man in Philly.”
Muhammad, the current UFC welterweight champion, remains the only blemish on Brady’s otherwise perfect 18-1 professional record. But Brady expects to have that No. 1 contender ranking by his name come Tuesday’s official UFC rankings update — or No. 2 at worst. The only hitch to Brady’s potential title opportunity could be another top contender, the undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov, who was originally booked in a Muhammad bout this past December.
Regardless of where his new ranking falls, Brady believes he’s the most worthy of a title tilt against the winner of Muhammad vs. Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315 in May.
“If you look at the last guys I beat versus the last guys Shavkat beat, I think my résumé [is more impressive],” Brady argued, “beating Gilbert [Burns] then Leon Edwards, versus [Rakhmonov beating] ‘Wonderboy’ [Stephen Thompson] and then he beat Ian [Machado] Garry [in] very not-great fights. So I think just off that, I could get [the next title shot]. But I’m also not rushing that either. If I have to fight again before that, that’s fine. It just has to make sense.
“I would be interested in the loser of the title fight, the winner of the title fight, or Shavkat.”
Unfortunately for Rakhmonov, Muhammad withdrew from their would-be title clash in late 2024 with an injury. Rakhmonov instead battled Garry at UFC 310, winning a hard-fought unanimous decision. However, the win didn’t come without a cost — injuries on Rakhmonov’s side have since relegated him to the sidelines and forced him to cede the next crack at Muhammad to Della Maddalena on May 10.
Should Brady have to wait behind Rakhmonov, he’s willing to take another stay-busy fight if it makes sense — but that doesn’t mean a step backward in the rankings to face Ireland’s Garry.
“Yeah, no,” Brady said. “I went out there [and I] took this. I heard [Garry] was b****ing that he didn’t get the fight with Belal. You lost your fight — what are you talking about? You came in second place. You don’t get to get rewarded for that. It made the most sense for it to be Jack.
“[Garry is] No. 7 at this point and lost his last fight. I won my last three, just beat a former champion, who was a really good champion. So yeah, I got bigger things going on than Ian Machado Garry.”
