MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – JULY 27: Leon Edwards of Jamaica looks on between rounds against Belal … [+]
The UFC returns to London, England, for the first time since July 2023 for this week’s UFC Fight Night card, which takes place on Saturday, March 22, at 02 Arena. In the main event, former UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards makes his first trip to the Octagon since losing his title to Belal Muhammad in July 2024. Edwards faces the rising Sean Brady, who has picked up two wins since getting his first taste of defeat in 2022, when Muhammad knocked him out in Round 2. In the UFC London 2025 co-main event, former UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz faces the charging Carlos Ulberg. Below, we look at the pertinent information for the UFC London fight card.
UFC London 2025 Fight Card
UFC London 2025 Main Card
Leon Edwards vs. Sean Brady
Jan Blachowicz vs. Carlos Ulberg
Gunnar Nelson vs. Kevin Holland
Molly McCann vs. Alexia Thainara
Jordan Vucenic vs. Chris Duncan
Nathaniel Wood vs. Morgan Charrière
UFC London 2025 Preliminary Card
Jai Herbert vs. Chris Padilla
Lone’er Kavanagh vs. Felipe dos Santos
Marcin Tybura vs. Mick Parkin
Christian Leroy Duncan vs. Andrey Pulyaev
Shauna Bannon vs. Puja Tomar
Nathan Fletcher vs. Caolán Loughran
Guram Kutateladze vs. Kauê Fernandes
UFC London 2025 Main Event: Leon Edwards Vs. Sean Brady
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – JULY 27: Leon Edwards of Jamaica prepares to face Belal Muhammad in the UFC … [+]
Leon Edwards (22-4-0-1) joined the UFC in late 2014. He was 8-1 at the time and coming off a successful defense of the BAMMA British welterweight title.
Edwards dropped his UFC debut, losing a split decision to Claudio Silva in November 2014. He then scored a knockout win and a “Performance of the Night” bonus against Seth Baczynski. A decision victory over Pawel Pawlak followed.
In December 2015, Edwards faced Kamaru Usman on the early prelims of a UFC on Fox card. Usman won that contest by unanimous decision. That fight, which took place more than eight years ago, was the last time Edwards was on the losing end of a UFC contest.
Following his loss to Usman, Edwards picked up wins over Dominic Waters (decision), Albert Tumenov (submission), Vicente Luque (decision), and Bryan Barberena (decision). The victory over Barberena, which came on the main card of a September 2017 UFC Fight Night event in Rotterdam, earned Edwards the No. 15 spot in the welterweight rankings.
After that, Edwards went on a four-fight winning streak, picking up three decision wins and one TKO. That stretch of wins put him at No. 3 in the rankings. Edwards was initially booked to face former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley in March 2020, but Edwards, who fights out of England, was forced to withdraw from that event due to COVID-19 restrictions after the card was moved from the UK to the US. The event was eventually scrapped.
After the Woodley fight was canceled, Edwards wanted to fight Jorge Masvidal, someone ranked ahead of him or for the UFC welterweight crown. With none of those fights being offered to him, Edwards was inactive. That inactivity resulted in the UFC removing him from the rankings, something he did not take well.
One day after the UFC removed Edwards from the rankings, the promotion announced Edwards vs. Khamzat Chimaev for a UFC Fight Night event in December 2020. With that booking, the UFC put Edwards back into the rankings at No. 3. That fight never took place as both fighters tested positive for COVID. Chimaev then pulled out of the rebooked fight because of lingering COVID effects. The UFC tried to book the bout again, but Chimaev was again forced out because he was still dealing with COVID issues. With that, the UFC booked the Edwards vs. Muhammad contest discussed above.
A decision win over Nate Diaz at UFC 263 in June 2021 followed for Edwards, which set up Edwards vs. then-champion Usman for the welterweight title in March 2023. Edwards. Behind on all three scorecards as the clock ticked down, Edwards delivered a perfectly placed and timed head kick that dropped Usman to the mat at 4:04 of the final round. With that, Edwards captured UFC gold.
Edwards defeated Usman in the March 2023 rematch by majority decision. He then defended the title in December 2023 with a unanimous decision win over Colby Covington.
Edwards was unbeaten in 13 fights heading into his UFC 304 fight against Belal Muhammad. Muhammad took the title from Edwards with a unanimous decision (48–47, 48–47, 49–46).
Edwards is the No. 1 fighter in the official UFC welterweight rankings. He was initially booked to face Jack Della Maddalena on this card, but Della Maddalena was moved to the main event of UFC 315 opposite Belal Muhammad.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – SEPTEMBER 07: Sean Brady looks on against Gilbert Burns of Brazil in a … [+]
Sean Brady (17-1) had won and defended the Cage Fury FC welterweight title twice when he got the call to join the UFC in 2019. At the time, Brady had a 10-0 record. UFC victories over Court McGee, Ismail Naurdiev, Christian Aguilera, Jake Matthews, and Michael Chiesa moved that record to 15-0. That run earned the Philadelphia-based fighter the No. 8 ranking in the UFC’s 170-pound weight class and a fight against the No. 5 ranked Belal Muhammad. Muhammad won that October 2022 fight by TKO in the second round.
Injuries prevented Brady from competing again until December 2023. When he did step into the Octagon again, Brady handled himself well, earning a “Performance of the Night” bonus for his submission win over Kelvin Gastelum.
Another injury has kept Brady out of action until UFC Vegas 97, which took place in September 2024. Brady picked up a second straight win in that contest, defeating former UFC welterweight title challenger Gilbert Burns via unanimous decision in a five-round affair.
I wrote of the performance, “Sean Brady could have fought better against Belal Muhammad in 2022. However, that knockout loss has aged pretty well for the Philly-born fighter. Muhammad has since earned the UFC welterweight title, and Brady has bounced back to beat two former title challengers in his past two outings. In 2023, he topped ex-UFC interim middleweight challenger Kelvin Gastelum by submission. On Saturday night, Brady defeated ex-welterweight title challenger Gilbert Burns by decision. More importantly, Brady looked better in each of those outings, which is to say that the 31-year-old might not have reached the pinnacle of his skills.
“Brady, who is a phenomenal grappler, added some new wrinkles to his striking game at UFC Vegas 97, fighting well behind his jab, and even adding some combinations to his repertoire, when he had time and space to employ his striking effectvily. He also did an excellent job of negating Burns’s striking, limiting him to just 47 landed significant strikes on 97 attempts. For his part, Brady racked up 130 significant strikes on 217 attempts.
“Brady also landed seven takedowns and earned 10:34 of control time.”
Brady enters this weekend’s fight card as the No. 5 fighter in the UFC’s 170-pound division.
UFC London 2025 Fight Card Date
Saturday, March 22, 2025
UFC London 2025 Fight Card Location
02 Arena in London, England
UFC London 2025 Fight Card How to Watch Or Stream
Full fight card streams on ESPN+
UFC London Fight Card Time
Prelims: 1:00 p.m. ET
Main Card: 4:00 p.m. ET
We will have more on the UFC London 2025 fight card, including betting odds and predictions as fight night nears.
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