Sean Brady is one step closer to challenging for UFC gold.
Brady dominated former champion Leon Edwards and secured a fourth-round submission with a guillotine choke in the main event of UFC Fight Night at the O2 Arena in London, England.
It was about as commanding of a performance as it could get for Brady, who was relentless from the outset with a steady diet of grappling and striking that overwhelmed Edwards.
“I know I can do that against anybody in the division,” Brady (18-1) said. “I think I belong in the Top 3 for sure.”
Brady stepped into this opportunity on short notice when Edwards’ original opponent, Jack Della Maddalena, was elevated into the main event of UFC 315 where he will challenge Belal Muhammad for the welterweight title.
Brady’s authoritative performance will likely catapult him to being the top-ranked welterweight when the UFC releases its rankings on Monday. The only thing that could potentially stall Brady from challenging for the title is if Muhammad retains at UFC 315 on May 10. Muhammad defeated Brady by TKO in 2022 and the UFC could be hesitant to schedule that fight with Shavkat Rakhmanov in line to challenge for the title next.
Regardless of whether Brady gets the opportunity to fight for gold next, it was the most dominant performance of his career against a former champion who had gone nine years without losing a fight.
It was one-way traffic from the start for Brady, who silenced fans at the O2 who backed their countryman Edwards (22-5) and hoped the former welterweight champion would bounce back after dropping the title to Muhammad last July. Instead, Edwards was forced to fight off his back foot early as Brady pressed forward and used his striking to set up his takedowns.
After outstriking and securing a late takedown in the first round, Brady charged out of the corner to open the second frame, dragged the former champion to the canvas and controlled him on the canvas for the rest of the round. Brady did the same in the third round but actively pursued a submission finish as Edwards fought to fend the Philadelphia fighter off.
With the fight in control heading into the fourth round, Brady swarmed Edwards with strikes until he positioned himself to collect his fifth takedown of the fight. This time, Edwards wouldn’t be able to escape Brady’s high-level grappling. Brady swiftly transitioned to a mounted one-armed guillotine that Edwards desperately tried to fight off. But Brady’s squeeze was too much and elicited the tap out at the 1:39 mark of the round.
Brady, 32, owned every aspect of the fight, outstriking Edwards 221 to 23 and had over 11 minutes of control time. With the win, Brady extended his winning streak to three and will pay close attention to what happens when Muhammad and Della Maddalena meet in May.
