Athletes
Sean Brady Is Ready For The Moment
Philadelphia's Sean Brady Feels Prepared For The Biggest Fight Of His Life At UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs Brady
Sean Brady’s been a little busy.
The welterweight contender laughs, and he’s handling all the changes that have happened in his life over the last several weeks like a champ.
MORE UFC LONDON: Fight By Fight Preview | Brady's Journey To London
First, and most importantly, he and his wife Kristen welcomed their daughter Vada Rae into the world in early February. Two days later, as the family left the hospital, Brady got the call to replace Jack Della Maddalena in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night main event against former world champ Leon Edwards.
Deep breath, get back to work, and get to London. Hesitation? None.
“This is the fight I wanted for a long time,” said Brady. “I was pushing for this fight, hoping that I would get it. I knew it would be a crunch time decision with the baby and everything like that, but obviously Jack got the fight. And then a few weeks ago, we find out that fight's not happening and here I am.”
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It’s a bold move for most, but Brady didn’t blink when Della Maddalena got pulled from the London card and put in a title fight against 170-pound king Belal Muhammad in May. Sure, short notice is never ideal, but Brady stayed in the gym since his September win over Gilbert Burns, and with the chance to beat a former champ – and the number one contender – it was perfect timing.
"I've definitely been looking at him for a while because I'm looking at everybody in the division, especially the guys ahead of me, and him being a former champion is a huge one,” said Brady. “My last fight, Gilbert was a former title challenger, and I beat him. I knew that the next step I wanted was a former titleholder, which was going to be either Leon or Kamaru (Usman). So both of those guys were on my radar. And yeah, I'm confident against anybody in this division, but it just turns out that I get to fight the number one contender, and then once I beat him, I'll be the number one contender.”
Sounds simple when he puts it like that, but there are still moving parts in the upper reaches of the welterweight division. The number two ranked Shavkat Rakhmonov was expected to get the next shot at Muhammad but was shelved by injury. The fourth-ranked Della Maddalena fights for gold in May, and the man in the middle, former champ Usman, hasn’t fought since October of 2023. So should Brady topple Edwards, he has a case for that number one spot. He just has to win in front of a hostile crowd at The O2 Arena.
UFC LONDON FREE FIGHTS: Edwards vs Covington | Brady vs Burns
“At the end of the day, it's just me and Leon in there,” said Brady. “Philly can't come with me, London won't be with him in there. None of my coaches can fight for me, none of his coaches can fight for him, and no one can help us. It's just me and him in there, and that's it. But if I got to be the bad guy a couple years ago as the old Sean Brady, this would've been hard for me to do on somewhat short notice. But I'm a completely different fighter, a completely different man. So I'm more than prepared and I'm more than excited to go out there and spoil the night for these people in London.”
Oddly enough, the 32-year-old owes this new version of himself to the worst night of his pro career in October of 2022, when he suffered his first and only loss to Muhammad in Abu Dhabi. After starting out 15-0 as a pro, this was his first “big” fight on the UFC 280 card. And dealing with the added media obligations while fighting outside of the U.S. for the first time, he got overwhelmed by the outside noise.
Sean Brady Fight Week Interview | UFC London
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Sean Brady Fight Week Interview | UFC London
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“I definitely think that was a point in my career where I wasn't ready for these bigger moments,” Brady admits. “Even if I would've went on to beat Belal at that point, I would've been fighting for a belt or fighting for a number one spot, which that version of Sean Brady wasn't ready for. So it took me a couple more fights and a lot of soul searching to really figure out who I am. I did a lot of work on my mind and my mental health and just being confident in who I am as a fighter. I'm not worried about any of the outside stuff. It's just part of it. The lights, the cameras, that's all part of it. But once I get in there and that cage door locks, I'm one of the best. I am the best welterweight on the planet. I just have to go out there and prove it. And once that cage is closed, I get to do what I do every single day. And this time I just get to become the number one contender after I do it.”
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So…the million-dollar question. If all goes as planned for Vada’s dad, does he have a preference when it comes to who he’d like to face for the welterweight crown?
“Listen, me and Belal fight ten times, I beat him nine out of ten,” said Brady. “He just beat me the one night that it counted so far. But, luckily for me, I'm gonna get my get back on Belal, for sure. I have nothing against him. Me, as a competitor, I know I'm better than him and I know I will beat him when we fight again, and it's going to build a big fight between me and him. He gave me my first loss and it's my redemption tour, it's my get back. So I pray that he has the belt when I get to him, and if, for some reason, he loses to Jack in May, I'll fight him before I fight for the belt. I want to fight, I want to be active and I'm starting the year off right by fighting in the first quarter of the year, which is going to be awesome. So yeah, whether I fight him for the number one contender spot or for the title, I'm fighting Belal before he hangs it up.”
UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs Brady took place live from O2 Arena in London, England on March 22, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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