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Former welterweight champion Leon Edwards is eager to return to winning ways when he faces Sean Brady at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday in one of the highlights in the UK sporting calendar.
Interestingly, the British fighter is the underdog against a talented fighter who has vowed to add to his misery this weekend.
Edwards heads into the fight with a 22-4 record in the professional ranks and with several impressive scalps on his career CV.
Back-to-back victories over Kamaru Usman cemented Edwards’ status as a force in the welterweight division, but things did not go to plan in his most recent fight.
The British fighter suffered a unanimous decision defeat against Belal Muhammad in Manchester and it took him some time to get to grips with the result.
“I kind of let this loss sit with me for a little bit, just to get it in [my head] that I actually lost first of all,” Edwards told MMA Fighting.
“Then from there, I was able to regroup. Even though it was a loss, it still a close fight, right? Like he won three rounds, I won two rounds on the scorecards on my worst night.
“So, it’s easier to put it behind me knowing that it wasn’t fully me in there on my best night. It was easier to put it behind me that way.”
While Edwards says he has put the defeat against Muhammad behind him, his desire to secure a rematch with the current champion has annoyed Brady.
Brady’s victory over Gilbert Burns in Las Vegas last September moved him onto a 17-1 career record and sparked talk that he was ready for a title shot.
The American believes Edwards has been disrespectful towards him by talking about facing Muhammad for the title and has vowed to punish him at the O2 Arena.
“I think that’s a bad look on Leon to be thinking about other people when all I’m thinking about is fighting him,” Brady said.
“He’s thinking about number one contenders and getting back at Belal and talking badly about Belal. But he’s got someone who’s trying to kill him on Saturday night in front of him.
“He has more things to be concerned about than being a number one contender in the division.”
Brady’s only defeat as a professional was also against Muhammad in Abu Dhabi in October 2022, and he would like the chance to avenge that result at some point.
However, while he could be just one more victory away from earning a shot at redemption, the 32-year-old is not looking any further ahead than the clash with Edwards.
“I’m not trying to rush it,” Brady added. “That's what I did before in my career. With the Belal fight, I was pushing for that so hard and it turned out that wasn’t the night for me.
“I'm going to go out there, I’m going to do my job, get my hand raised by any means necessary, and then wherever I go from there, I go.”
UFC London full fight card
Main card
Leon Edwards vs Sean Brady (welterweight)
Jan Blachowicz vs Carlos Ulberg (light-heavyweight)
Gunnar Nelson vs Kevin Holland (welterweight)
Molly McCann vs Alexia Thainara (strawweight)
Jordan Vucenic vs Chris Duncan (lightweight)
Nathaniel Wood vs Morgan Charriere (featherweight)
Preliminary card
Jai Herbert vs Chris Padilla (lightweight)
Lone'er Kavanagh vs Felipe Dos Santos (flyweight)
Marcin Tybura vs Mick Parkin (heavyweight)
Christian Leroy Duncan vs Andrey Pulyaev (middleweight)
Shauna Bannon vs Puja Tomar (strawweight)
Nathan Fletcher vs Caolan Loughran (bantamweight)
Guram Kutateladze vs Kaue Fernandes (lightweight)
