Sean Brady silenced the primarily enemy territory England crowd by defeating former UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards at 1:39 Round 4 (submission, guillotine choke) Saturday at UFC Fight Night in England.
Brady (18-1 MMA) was overcome with emotion as he accepted the fight with Edwards (22-4, 1 NC MMA) Feb. 19, according to MMAFighting.com, which he said Saturday was a special day in his personal life.
“I literally took this fight the day I got out of the hospital with my wife with our newborn baby,” Brady said following the win. “I knew this was a fight (where) I could do that (kind of performance) in. I can do that against anybody in the (welterweight) division. I just showed that against one of the former most prestigious champions as of recently. So, yeah, I think I belong in the top-3, top-1 for sure.”
With Belal Muhammad (24-3 MMA) set to defend his welterweight title against Jack Della Maddalena (17-2 MMA) in May at UFC 315, Brady, a winner of three straight, didn’t specify a preference regarding a possible outcome and is open to whatever direction UFC president Dana White and Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell, offer Brady next.
Edwards has now lost two in a row dating to July last year, as he previously held the UFC welterweight title for the better part of three years running. Edwards was outclassed in nearly every facet of the sport. Before the submission loss, Edwards was compromised on the feet with immense volume by the Philadelphia, Pa. native, who out-struck Edwards by a wide volume in the first three rounds of the fight per the broadcast — 23-13 (Round 1), 38-0 (Round 2), 24-3 (Round 3).
The co-main event saw No. 6-ranked Carlos Ulberg defeat former UFC light heavyweight champion and No. 4-ranked Jan Blachowicz by unanimous decision 29-28, 29-28, 29-28. The win for Ulberg (13-1 MMA) marked his eighth UFC triumph in a row, while Blachowicz (29-11-1 MMA) has lost two in a row and three of his last five outings since losing his then-championship nearly four years ago.
Other results included Kevin Holland (27-13, 1 NC MMA) defeating longtime promotional veteran Gunnar Nelson (19-6-1 MMA) by unanimous decision at welterweight — 29-28, 29-28, 29-28, giving Holland his first win in nine months following a two-fight losing skid. Nelson, who has been in the UFC since 2012, is just 2-3 in his last five fights.
In women’s strawweight action, Molly McCann (14-8 MMA) lost to short-notice replacement Alexia Thainara (12-1. MMA), which made McCann announce her retirement from MMA after four losses in five UFC outings.
Beginning the main card, lightweight Chris Duncan (13-2 MMA) submitted Jordan Vucenic (13-4 MMA), needing 3:42 of Round 2 to secure a guillotine choke and improve his UFC record to 4-1 since March 2023.
Opening the main card despite a delayed start, featherweight Nathaniel Wood (21-6 MMA) got the O2 Arena in a frenzy with a dominant unanimous decision win 30-27, 30-27, 30-27 against Morgan Charriere (20-11-1 MMA).
The UFC remains on the road a week from Saturday as it travels to Mexico City, headlined by a flyweight main event between former champion Brandon Moreno (22-8-2 MMA) and one-time title challenger Steve Erceg (12-3 MMA).
–Field Level Media
