Once he walks to the Octagon cage to face Sean Brady at UFC London 2025, Leon Edwards will do something he has not done since 2015. For the first time in his last 14 fights, Edwards will attempt to bounce back from a loss.
Once the longest-reigning champion in the UFC, Edwards’ 13-fight unbeaten streak ended at UFC 304 at the hands of Belal Muhammad. In his home country, Edwards was taken down nine times and controlled for over 12 minutes en route to a lopsided decision loss that cost him the welterweight title.
With Edwards’ momentum halted, he now receives the unenviable task of welcoming a gatekeeper-like role to the 170-pound belt. Fresh off consecutive wins over former title challengers, Brady can become the next challenger with a win over Edwards in London.
Despite Edwards’ prolonged success, MMA is more recency-biased than any sport. His lackluster loss to Muhammad is all that fans remember, leading to Brady being listed as the favorite.
Sean Brady’s advantages
Even though Edwards has just one loss in his last 14 fights, the fight went in a way Brady could easily emulate. Edwards, a strong counter-striker, wilted under Muhammad’s grappling-based pressure, a strategy Brady often employs.
However, until proven otherwise, Muhammad has looked like the best welterweight in the world over the last three years. Saying Brady can successfully mimic the champion’s game plan is one thing, but actually executing it is another. In beating Edwards, Muhammad extended his longest unbeaten streak in the division, which includes a TKO win over Brady.
Yet, while Brady might not be at the level of Muhammad as a fighter, he certainly is on par with him as a grappler. Brady cannot match Muhammad’s striking, but if he can get Edwards down, he has displayed elite top pressure, control and submission game in his arsenal. Once on his back, Edwards is prone to being controlled, often lacking the urgency to return to his feet.
It will not come easy for Brady, but with the way Edwards just lost, there is reason to believe the Philadelphia native can leave London as the new No. 1 welterweight contender.
How Leon Edwards can pull off the upset
As bad as his last outing was, there is reason to believe Edwards’ loss to Muhammad was merely a one-off. Historically, he has fared well against wrestlers, with only Muhammad and Kamaru Usman — two of the best fighters in divisional history — having succeeded against him. A lot can be said about Brady and his accomplishments, but comparing him to those two former champions is tough.
At 33, there is little evidence suggesting Edwards is on the decline. In his three fights before facing Muhammad, “Rocky” only allowed 11 total takedowns on 37 attempts between two fights against Usman and one against Colby Covington.
On the feet, Brady is as one-dimensional as a modern UFC title challenger can be. His striking is above average, but he has not shown anything resembling any form of a threat in that regard to a world-class striker like Edwards. Just three fights ago, Brady was picked apart and finished by Muhammad, who earned his first TKO victory since 2016.
If Brady can get ahold of Edwards, the fight will be entirely within his realm. Yet, the 6-foot-2 Edwards will fight with a four-inch height and two-inch reach advantage, a factor that could pay dividends in this type of matchup. All of Brady’s finishes in the Octagon have been by submission, something nobody has ever done to Edwards.
Although it might not seem like it on paper, a win for Edwards would be an upset by definition, so long as he can stay upright more often than not — something he has historically done against non-championship caliber opponents — Edwards could make the odds look foolish.
