Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping believes Sean Brady is a more difficult matchup for Leon Edwards than Jack Della Maddalena.
In recent developments, UFC boss Dana White took to Instagram and made a massive 14-fight announcement, including three main events for the upcoming UFC London, UFC 314, and UFC 315 cards.
The announcement also included a big change for the UFC Fight Night 254 main event. Originally, Edwards was scheduled to face the No. 4-ranked welterweight Maddalena in London on March 22, 2025. However, after Maddalena’s shift to UFC 315, “Rocky” will face a short-notice replacement in Brady who is coming off consecutive decision wins over Gilbert Burns and Kelvin Gastelum.
Bisping believes this upheaval can make things worse for Edwards who would definitely want to enter the win column after soundly losing his UFC welterweight title to Belal Muhammad.
“Della Maddalena versus Leon—that’s off, and Sean Brady steps in. This is kind of a nightmare situation for Leon Edwards. I’m not saying Leon can’t beat him, but stylistically, and on short notice, this is a very, very different fight and potentially a harder fight than Jack Della Maddalena. Styles make fights. Leon is a sniper on the feet. Of course, he’s got great takedown defense. He was able to take down Kamaru Usman, fully mounted, and all the rest of it, right? We know he’s well-rounded.”
Although Bisping is confident about Edwards’s accurate striking, he is concerned about Brady’s wrestling-heavy style which is very different from Maddalena’s crisp boxing.
“But when you’re training for Jack Della Maddalena and you’re focusing on boxing and pretty much a standup affair, and you’re not really working on the takedown defense and defending chokes and all the variety of madness in the Jiu-Jitsu world that Sean Brady does offer, it’s a big mix-up. Now granted, all the work that he’s done in the past to beat Kamaru Usman, to fight and go up against Belal Muhammad—that’s all in the tank, okay? It’s like if you go out there and you win a fight really, really quickly, and people think, “Why did I bother? Why did I bother training?” No, the reason you did that is because you still leveled up in training camp. Your skill set overall got better.”
Talking about Edward’s previous opponents, Bisping further added how Brady would bring in problems similar to the current champ Muhammad.
“So, Leon’s been preparing for these kinds of fights his entire career, right? Everyone that Leon Edwards fights, whether it’s Colby Covington, Kamaru Usman, Belal Muhammad—they’re all trying to take him down. So, in a way, nothing changes for him. Yes, it’s not Jack Della Maddalena trying to box him, trying to piece him up on the feet. It’s Sean Brady, who’s very, very good, that dominated Gilbert Burns last time out, that’s going to be looking to take him down. So, it’s the exact same fight, essentially, almost on paper, stylistically, that Leon had in Manchester last year when he lost the belt. That’s why I say it’s a bit of a nightmare.”
However, Bisping is impressed with Edward’s will to accept Brady as a new opponent on short notice even when it could potentially ruin his return to the UFC welterweight title picture.
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