Fueled by disrespect, Sean Brady carries a Philly-sized chip on his shoulder into UFC London's headliner
No one likes to be overlooked, but it can be one of the greatest motivators a fighter can receive. Just ask UFC welterweight Sean Brady, who feels it daily despite teetering on the precipice of title contention.
Brady, 32, has been relegated to perpetual dark horse status since his lone MMA loss in October 2022. That night, the now-champion Belal Muhammad snapped Brady's perfect 15-fight unbeaten streak with a second-round knockout few saw coming. While Brady is still ranked among the best of the best at 170 pounds, the American's ceiling in the division largely hasn't been viewed through the same lens since.
Even after two strong rebound wins over past title challengers Gilbert Burns and Kelvin Gastelum, Brady feels the doubts wafting his direction from his peers — including from his opponent Saturday at UFC London, former welterweight champion Leon Edwards. "Rocky" has continually — and publicly — expressed doubts about Brady's talent, knocking Brady for the Muhammad loss and telling Uncrowned on Monday: "If Belal can finish you, mate, I can finish you." Yet for Brady, the noise has all become par for the course.
"It's easy to look at that and think that," Brady said of his Muhammad loss. "That was the worst performance of my career — and that Sean Brady is long gone and dead. I'm a completely different man.
"I didn't get dropped, I didn't get put down. [The] ref stopped it. It is what it is. Leon got beat up for 25 minutes against Belal, so I think that says even more about him. And if you look stylistically at what other guys have done [against Edwards], I'm better than all of them. Kamaru [Usman] was beating him until he threw the head kick that was heard around the world. I thought Kamaru won the third fight after that too. Then [Edwards has] a lot to say about other people and has a stinker against Colby Covington. So it's alright, we're going to see Saturday night."
Nearly three years after his loss to Muhammad, Brady's struggles before that fight have become well-documented. It was the age-old case of pressure overcoming success.
A 15-fight undefeated streak is wildly impressive in any division, but doing it at welterweight — one of the sport's most consistently talent-rich pools — and it's only natural for a fighter to start feeling their ego inflate. Brady felt that weight lift as soon as referee Lucasz Bosacki waved off his fight with Muhammad. The self-described "worst thing that could happen" had finally happened, and he was OK.
In truth, the loss became the blessing the Philadelphian needed to help elevate him.
"Me losing to Belal was the best thing that ever happened to me," Brady said. "I wasn't ready for those bigger fights at that moment, and that was God's way of saying like, 'Hey, let's take a step back.' But now I am. I'm ready for these opportunities. I wouldn't be here in London if [I wasn't]. I had a perfectly good opportunity to say, 'No, I don't want this fight. I just had a baby. I'm going to stay home.' That could have been that, but I took this fight. I'm ready to go. Mentally, physically, I'm the best version of myself. People can write me off, but we're going to see Saturday night.
"Being undefeated carries a lot of pressure. Even going into this fight, I'm No. 5 — the betting lines say I'm the favorite but Leon Edwards is a former champion, No. 1 contender. He's supposed to beat me. So the pressure's on him. I'm coming into his backyard, short notice — the pressure's on him. I'm coming in here and I'm going to go out there, fight my heart out — no matter what, I get my hand raised."
The timing of Brady's recent life events almost couldn't be crazier.
UFC London will be the biggest night of Brady's life as a fighter, and could add another heaping dollop of euphoria to the recent wave he's experienced between becoming a father for the first time and his beloved Philadelphia Eagles winning Super Bowl 59. As he alluded, a fight overseas in front of one of MMA's most passionate fan bases wasn't even in the cards until the UFC shuffled the deck, sending Edwards' original opponent, Jack Della Maddalena, into a Montreal title tilt with Muhammad in May.
Brady received the call, accepted, and now channels the championship energy from his home of Philadelphia — a sports city unlike few others.
"It's been a crazy month and a half," Brady said.
"Timing's lining up good. Eagles are killing it, I'm in a good spot, so I'm just looking to add on to that momentum."
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