London — When this weekend’s UFC London main event was scrambled, with Jack Della Maddalena shifted to a title fight against Belal Muhammad, Sean Brady was the man jumping on the opportunity to face a former champ in Leon Edwards.
As Brady explained during Thursday’s UFC London media day, it’s a sort of a low risk, high reward situation. “Of course there’s always risk. One guy’s gonna win, one guy’s gonna lose,” observed Brady (17-1), speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press. “But if you look at it that way, for me, it’s a lot less risk. I beat Leon, I become the number one contender. God forbid if I lost, I’m still right where I’m at. For me it’s just a huge opportunity to show who I am in this division and go out there and be ranked number one after beating Leon.”
Edwards, who was dethroned by Belal Muhammad last year, remains ranked #1 at 170lbs. Brady comes in at #5; Maddalena, Kamaru Usman, and Shavkat Rakhmonov sit between them. Were Rakhmonov healthy, he’d have been granted the title shot given to Maddalena. Either way, it’s pretty clear who the key players are in the UFC’s welterweight division. And that makes preparing for big fights a tad easier for Sean Brady.
“When you have only four or five guys ahead of you in the division, it’s a little bit easier to get ready for a guy. So you kind of are always just training, with knowing in mind that I could fight Leon, I could fight Jack, I could fight Kamaru or Shavkat. You just have those thoughts in the back of your mind.”
As for champ Belal Muhammad, who returns to action at UFC 315 in May, Brady came out on the wrong end of their original encounter. That makes a win over the #1-ranked Edwards a big motivating factor, the American acknowledged. Still, he’s confident he’ll face Muhammad again some day regardless.
“It’s definitely motivation, but I know eventually we’re going to fight again. Whether I fight Belal when he’s champion, or I fight Belal for a number one contender’s spot, eventually it’s going to happen,” said Brady. “I have nothing but respect for Belal, he gets a lot of hate for no reason, but it’s definitely one I want to get back as a competitor.”
The pair’s first meeting came in a non-title fight in October of 2022, with Muhammad scoring the win via TKO in the second round.
Watch the full UFC London media day appearance by Sean Brady above.
