If I didn’t know better, I would have sworn that was a prime Georges St-Pierre in the Octagon at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday, controlling, smothering and dominating former welterweight champion Leon Edwards.
It was a brilliant, all-encompassing performance, but it was delivered not by St-Pierre, the former two-division champion and UFC Hall of Famer but by 32-year-old new father, Sean Brady.
Brady accepted the fight in the main event of UFC London on a month’s notice, not long after his wife gave birth to their first daughter, Vada Rae.
He made an elite former champion look dreadful, combining sharp hands, terrific takedowns and elite jiu-jitsu. It all led to a victory by guillotine choke at 1:39 of the fourth when a thoroughly beaten and outclassed Edwards tapped his surrender.
The outcome, though, had been determined long before that.
“Brady looked incredible tonight,” UFC CEO Dana White said. “He completely dominated the former champion in his home country.”
How good was Brady, a Philadelphia native, against a former champion on enemy turf? Think Saquon Barkley for the Eagles in 2024: A fast start that just kept building. That was Brady in London.
Brady took the first round with his hands. He’s the jiu-jitsu specialist who was mocked by Edwards pre-fight for being too small. He beat Edwards at his own game in the first, landing several clean right hands.
He gave Edwards a taste of what lay ahead at the end of the first when he took him down and immediately captured a dominant position.
Time ran out before Brady had a chance to capitalize, but he still had four rounds left, and he was about to make Edwards suffer.
Edwards is a striker, but he landed just three significant strikes in Rounds 2 through 4, including being blanked in the second and the fourth.
In total strikes, Brady led 47-20 in Round 1, 76-0 in Round 2, 86-3 in the third and 12-0 in the decisive fourth.
Nothing Brady did came as a shock, at least to him and his team.
“I literally took this fight the day I got out of the hospital with my wife, with our newborn baby,” Brady said. “I knew this was the fight I could do that in. I know I can do that against anyone in the division. I just showed that against one of the most prestigious champions [in recent times].”
Bullys always right https://t.co/dCTTffUipR
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) March 22, 2025
Brady entered the fight with a 17-1 record and ranked fifth in the division, so it was hardly like he was some unknown with little chance.
Nobody, though, handled Edwards the way Brady did on Saturday: Certainly not reigning champion Belal Muhammad, nor ex-champion Kamaru Usman or the likes of Colby Covington, Nate Diaz and Rafael dos Anjos.
He was 221 of 295 in total strikes, hit 5 of 7 takedowns and in a bout that lasted just 16. minutes, 39 seconds, Brady managed 11:10 of control time.
It was a masterclass and immediately thrust Brady into the title picture in a crowded and complicated division.
In his last three fights, Muhammad has beaten Brady by TKO at UFC 280, and won decisions over Gilbert Burns at UFC 288 and Edwards at UFC 304.
He’ll defend his belt on May 15 in Montreal against Jack Della Maddalena in the main event of UFC 315.
He was supposed to defend it against Shakvat Rakhmonov, but Rakhmonov injured a knee and had to withdraw. And now Brady elevated himself substantially by drilling Edwards in perhaps the year’s most comprehensive performance to date.
And he was able to laugh at Edwards’ pre-fight comments about his size.
“Oh man, I heard all these people saying I’m too small for 170,” Brady said. “I was 198 [after rehydrating] when they weighed me in the back [today]. I ain’t small for a welterweight. I’m just short, but that’s OK.”
Vocalist Randy Newman sang about short people in his 1977 hit of the same name. And while he mocked short folk mostly, there was one line in that song that most definitely applied to Brady on Saturday:
They’re gonna get you every time.
Brady certainly got Edwards. And based off what he displayed Saturday, it’s going to take a Herculean effort by whoever stands across from him in the cage next.