Face off! Leon Edwards stares down Sean Brady ahead of UFC London (Video)

Jesse Holland is among the longest-tenured media professionals in the combat sports news space, covering MMA, professional wrestling and boxing on a full-time basis since early 2004.

Former UFC welterweight champion, Leon Edwards, came face-to-face with No. 5-ranked division contender, Sean Brady, ahead of their five-round main event atop the UFC London MMA fight card on Sat. (March 22, 2025) inside O2 Arena in London, England.

Edwards (22-4, 1 NC) is looking to rebound from his unanimous decision loss to Belal Muhammad at UFC 304 last summer in Manchester. As for Brady (17-1), he’s looking to build on his decision victory over Gilbert Burns at UFC Vegas 97 back in September.

“It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but I take nothing from Belal,” coach Dave Lovell said on The Ariel Helwani Show. “He won his way to this time like Leon did, so let him make the most of it, fair play to him. But it’s a bitter pill for me to swallow for the simple fact, how Leon lost it, the lackluster effort for whatever reason. Because we all know that was, what, 30, 35, 40 percent of Leon Edwards that night? It was truly a disappointing week for us. Obviously, Leon’s first loss in how long? And in the fashion, how he lost it. Yeah, it was upsetting all around, but we’re in the fight game and sh*t happens.”

The road back to the title starts this weekend in London.

LIVE! Stream UFC London On ESPN+

WELTERWEIGHT TITLE ELIMINATOR! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returns to the famed O2 Arena in London for an important main event title eliminator between Top 5 contenders Leon Edwards and Sean Brady, who look to leapfrog the injured Shavkat Rakhmonov for the next 170-pound title shot. In addition, former light heavyweight champion, Jan Blachowicz, hopes to reestablish his place among the 205-pound elite when he battles fast-rising contender, Carlos Ulberg, in the UFC London co-headlining attraction.

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Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC London fight card right here, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” undercard bouts at 1 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining main card balance on ESPN+ at 4 p.m. ET.

To checkout the latest and greatest UFC London news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive here.