Athletes
Sean Brady | Journey To London
Welterweight Sean Brady Has Made A Steady Ascent Up The Welterweight Division And Hopes To Cash In His Opportunity At UFC Fight Night: Edwards vs Brady In London
The welterweight title picture is no stranger to fighters taking the long road to title contention. In fact, one could argue embracing the slow grind defines the divison, which its last three champions - Kamaru Usman, Leon Edwards and Belal Muhammad - embodied. Philadelphia’s Sean Brady, who made his UFC debut in October 2019, doesn’t seem to have the same kind of path ahead of him, but the trek through the weight class hasn’t been a fast track, either, as he approaches a main event opportunity against Leon Edwards in London on March 22.
Brady first arrived to the Octagon with a shiny 10-0 record and a marauding penchant for dominating opponents. He opened his UFC account with five wins (two by submission), the last of which came against the established veteran Michael Chiesa. That win propelled him into a fight with Muhammad at UFC 280, but Brady’s first trip overseas didn’t go as planned. The future champion handed Brady his first loss, but he would eventually show he wasn’t one of those fighters who would crumble after tasting adversity for the first time.
Injuries delayed his return to action, however, and Brady saw scheduled bouts with Michel Pereira and Jack Della Maddalena fall apart before he finally got back on the horse in December 2023. That return came against former interim title challenger Kelvin Gastelum in Austin, Texas. Brady reminded everyone why he remains a highly touted contender, submitting Gastelum in the third round and earning his second performance bonus.
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That victory set him up for his first main event assignment opposite former title challenger Gilbert Burns. He proceeded to put together a methodical and tactical performance en route to a clear-cut unanimous decision win, which established him as a real player in the Top 10 and framed his loss to Muhammad as more of a speed bump than anything else.
At 32 years old, one could argue Brady is entering his prime years at the perfect time. Through eight UFC fights, Brady has almost exclusively faced experienced Octagon veterans, and his last three bouts came against men who either captured or competed for the title. Along the way, he established himself as one of the better offensive wrestlers in a division full of high-level grapplers. He ranks sixth among active welterweights in takedown accuracy (52 percent) and fifth in top position percentage (30.4 percent), according to UFC Record Book. Those numbers get put to the test in the Big Smoke against Edwards, who has made it a habit of dismantling grapplers, most notably Usman and Colby Covington. Edwards didn’t have the same success against Muhammad, and Brady will surely hope to replicate that result in the O2 Arena.
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While most point toward the lightweight division as the premier weight class in the UFC (and for good reason), welterweight isn’t too far behind. Brady, along with other rising contenders like Della Maddalena, Joaquin Buckley and Shavkat Rakhmonov, helped turn the page on the division’s title picture,not to mention guys like Ian Machado Garry, Michael Morales and Carlos Prates, who aren’t far from Top 10 shots themselves.
That’s all to say: Brady has an elite window of opportunity on March 22. Edwards is as excellent a test as you can have in the division, and beating him in emphatic fashion could give Brady the juice he needs to call for a rematch against Muhammad should he defend his title at UFC 315.
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If anybody can make the most of a chance when there are odds stacked against them, it’s a fighter from Philly.
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!