UFC London: Brady taps out Edwards; Ulberg spoils Blachowicz's return

Sean Brady has reached the next level within the welterweight division after defeating former champion Leon Edwards on Saturday in the main event of a UFC event in London, England.

The 32-year-old powerhouse from Philadelphia is known for his grappling prowess and became the first fighter to submit the ex-titleholder by tapping out Edwards for the biggest win of his mixed martial arts career to date.

Edwards hadn’t fought since losing the title last summer at UFC 304 to current 170-pound champ Belal Muhammad. The 33-year-old from Birmingham was originally scheduled to face Jack Della Maddelena at Saturday’s event, however Brady was tabbed as a replacement opponent last month when Della Maddelena was put into a title fight with Muhammad at the upcoming UFC 315 in Montreal.

Brady improved to 18-1 in MMA with his only loss so far being to Muhammad back in 2022. He was coming off consecutive wins over past UFC title challengers Kelvin Gastelum and Gilbert Burns.

After a closely contested opening round, nearly all of Round 2 was spent with Brady on top of Edwards thanks to an early takedown and smothering top control. Brady out-landed Edwards 38-0 in significant strikes in the round and attempted a kimura lock, one of his favourite submission holds, but Edwards defended well.

Brady regained top control on the ground early in Round 3 after reversing a puzzling Edwards takedown attempt. Round 4 was much of the same, only this time Brady was able to slowly work a guillotine choke until it was tight enough to where Edwards gave up.

Edwards is now on the first two-fight losing streak of his fighting career. He originally became champion when he knocked out Kamaru Usman with a dramatic fifth-round head kick at UFC 278 in 2022. Edwards successfully defended the title in an immediate rematch with Usman then earned a second title defence against Colby Covington in 2023 before his reign atop the 170-pound weight class ended last year.

Saturday’s 13-bout UFC Fight Night card took place at The O2 Arena and marked the organization’s first trip back in London in two years.

No fights ended in a knockout or technical knockout.

Former light-heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz stepped back into the cage for the first time in nearly two years but was on the wrong side of a narrow three-round decision against Carlos Ulberg in the co-main event.

Ulberg extended his winning streak to eight and afterwards said a title shot is the only fight he’s interested in next.

Magomed Ankalaev became the division’s new champion earlier this month when he defeated Alex Pereira by five-round unanimous decision at UFC 313. Those two are expected to face each other in a championship rematch later this year but this win over a former 205-pound champ like Blachowicz, Ulberg is now undoubtedly involved in the greater title conversation.

Blachowicz’s two opponents prior to facing Ulberg were Pereira (a three-round split decision loss in July 2023) and Ankalaev (five-round majority draw in December 2022). The Polish star is 42 years old, is 1-3-1 in his past five and underwent multiple shoulder surgeries in the past couple years.

Liverpool’s Molly McCann announced her retirement following a submission loss to Brazil’s Alexia Thainara.

McCann, 34, was originally scheduled to face Istela Nunes at the event but Nunes was replaced by Thainara last week. McCann has lost four of her past five, getting finished in three of them, dating back to 2022.

Thainara is 27 and was making her UFC debut. Thainara, now 12-1 as a pro, danced her way to the Octagon and resumed dancing after she tapped McCann out with a rear-naked choke in the opening round.

English fighters ended up going 3-6 on the card.

London’s own Nathaniel Wood opened the main card with a unanimous decision win over France’s Morgan Charriere.

Scotland’s Chris Duncan upset England’s Jordan Vucenic with a second-round guillotine choke, taking advantage of an ill-advised takedown attempt from Vucenic who’s now 0-2 in the UFC.

Duncan improved to 4-1 at the UFC level since earning a contract off a Contender Series win over Charlie Campbell and has won each of his past two fights with his guillotine choke.

In other main card action, Kevin Holland snapped his cold streak with a unanimous decision win over a returning Gunnar Nelson in welterweight action.

The 32-year-old who fights out of Texas was coming off a submission loss to Reinier de Ridder at middleweight just two months ago, while Iceland’s Nelson hadn’t fought in more than two full years.

Holland has been the most active fighter on the UFC roster in recent wins with 20 fights since 2020 but had lost four of five prior to facing Nelson. He said following his win that if his next fight takes place in the 170-pound division he’d like to return around July, yet if his next fight is up at 185 pounds he’d be willing to fight next week.

Marcin Tybura, Kaue Fernandes and Shauna Bannon all picked up notable wins on the preliminary card.