Sean Brady Points Out When He Broke Leon Edwards On UFC London Card

Sean Brady silenced all but the biggest naysayers on Saturday, defeating former UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards in the main event of UFC London. Brady, who took the fight on short notice following the birth of his daughter, flew into hostile territory and dominated Edwards in a way that no previous opponent had ever done, handing the former UFC kingpin the first stoppage loss of his MMA career, which began in 2011. With the win, Brady, who is on a three-fight winning streak since Belal Muhammad knocked him out in October 2022, put his name in the UFC welterweight title conversation. After the fight, Brady pointed out the moment he sensed victory was his in the UFC London main event.

UFC London: Sean Brady On Breaking Leon Edwards

“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 at the UFC London 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.”

It’s hard to disagree agree with Brady, in fact, that point stood out for me as well, as I noted on fight night.

“On Saturday night, Brady dispatched former UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards in the fourth round with a guillotine choke. By the time Edwards tapped, the result of the fight, a Brady victory, felt like a foregone conclusion.

“Brady’s pressure on the feet and on the mat were too much for the ex-champ. Edwards almost seemed as if he had nothing to offer Brady. A particularly noteworthy moment of the fight came in the third round when Edwards opted to fight to Brady’s strengths by going for a takedown. The result of that attempt was Brady getting the fight to the mat and dominating from the rest of the round.

“Edwards seemed demoralized as the fight wore on, while Brady seemed to become more confident with every passing second.

“The UFC gave Brady a massive opportunity to headline the UFC London card against a former champ. He made the most of that chance with a spectacular performance.”

UFC London: Sean Brady On Belal Muhammad’s Win Over Leon Edwards

Brady also pointed out that his performance against Edwards was better than that of the current champion Belal Muhammad, who wrested the title from Edwards at UFC 304 in July 2024.

“I did it a lot better than Belal did,” Brady said. “I think Belal lost a couple rounds, he had his back taken for an entire round, I think it was 3-2 (the final scores were 48-47, 48-47, 49-46) 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.”

Muhammad is set to defend his title at UFC 315 against Jack Della Maddalena, who stepped in when Shavkat Rakhmonov could not accept the date for that bout. UFC 315 takes place at Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on May 10.

As for those who remain doubtful of his potential, Brady addressed them as well.

UFC London: Sean Brady On The Doubters

“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 (expletive), 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.”

UFC London: Sean Brady On Backup Role At UFC 315

Brady also said he’d be willing to be the backup fighter for UFC 315, if the UFC were to ask him to fil that role.

“Could be a possibility,” Brady said. “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.”

Sean Brady entered the UFC London fight card as the No. 5 welterweight in the official UFC rankings, while Edwards was ranked at No. 1. Rakhmonov is No. 2, while Della Maddalena is No. 4.