Sean Brady is skeptical of Leon Edwards’ explanations for his loss to Belal Muhammad.
Brady is set to face Edwards in the main event at UFC London this Saturday. This will be Edwards’ first fight since losing his welterweight title to Belal Muhammad at UFC 304.
Edwards and his coach Dave Lovell have suggested that the timing of the Muhammad fight, which took place in the early morning UK time to accommodate US audiences, negatively impacted Edwards. However, Brady believes the outcome would have been the same regardless of the time.
“I don’t believe that’s true,” Brady stated. He pointed out that in Edwards’ second fight against Kamaru Usman, Edwards was losing until he landed a knockout kick.
Brady continued, suggesting Usman also won their third fight. He observed that Edwards sometimes loses focus when fights don’t go his way. Brady credits Belal Muhammad’s strategy and dismisses the time zone as a factor in the fight’s result. He believes Muhammad was simply the better fighter that night.
“I plan to pressure him and keep him on the defensive throughout the fight. If he gets comfortable and moves forward, he becomes more effective. Watching his fights, it’s clear that making him uncomfortable is key to disrupting his game,” Brady explained.
In a separate interview, Edwards mentioned he is accustomed to Brady’s fighting style and found it easier to adjust to fighting Brady instead of Jack Della Maddalena. Maddalena is now scheduled to fight Muhammad for the belt at UFC 315 in May. Edwards’ recent opponents include Kamaru Usman, Colby Covington, and Belal Muhammad.
Brady agrees that Edwards has experience preparing for grappling-heavy fighters, but he argues this isn’t necessarily advantageous for Edwards.
“I consider myself a superior grappler to those fighters in all aspects – submissions, ground and pound, and takedowns,” Brady asserted. “Historically, this grappling style has been Edwards’ weakness, contributing to his losses and close fights. So, claiming familiarity with this style isn’t a strong argument. It’s clearly still a problem for him.”
Brady highlighted Edwards’ past loss to Claudio Silva and his recent defeat to Muhammad as evidence that grappling remains a challenge for Edwards.
Following his defeat to Muhammad at UFC 280 in October 2022, Brady has secured victories against former title contenders Kelvin Gastelum and Gilbert Burns. The fight against Burns was Brady’s first UFC main event.
Brady is confident in his approach to secure a significant victory, which would greatly improve his position for a title shot. However, his immediate focus is on winning this fight. He acknowledges that his victory over Edwards might disappoint the UK fans supporting Edwards.
“I will go out there, push forward, and make Leon fight on his back foot and be uncomfortable for 25 minutes, or until I finish him. I’m confident I’ll win, and unfortunately for the UK fans, they will be going home unhappy,” Brady concluded.
