Sean Brady has vowed to viciously punish Leon Edwards for focusing more on a future title shot than the challenge at hand ahead of UFC London.
Brady takes on the former welterweight champion at the O2 Arena on Saturday, a bout the American signed on late notice after Edwards’s opponent Jack Della Maddalena was fast-tracked to a title shot.
Nevertheless, the BJJ specialist comes into the fight as the favourite and will look to pick the same holes in Edwards’s game as were exposed by Belal Muhammad last summer, when he dethroned the Birmingham native.
Edwards has been vocal about his intention to return to the welterweight mountain top during the lead-up to fight week, apparently assured by the UFC that the winner of Saturday’s clash will become the No 1 contender.
However, Brady has blasted Edwards for not granting his full attention to his immediate challenger and is confident of sending the Briton further down the pecking order.
“ I think that’s a bad look on Leon to be thinking about other people when all I’m thinking about is fighting him,” he said.
“He’s thinking about No 1 contenders and getting back at Belal and talking s*** about Belal. But he’s got someone who’s trying to kill him Saturday night in front of him.
“He has more things to be concerned about than being a No 1 contender in the division.”
Brady is on a two-fight tear and with victories against Gilbert Burns and Kelvin Gastelum under his belt, he boasts some impressive scalps. His only loss in the UFC came against the current champion, a defeat he is keen to avenge regardless of whether gold is on the line.
“It’s definitely motivation,” he added. “But I know eventually we’re going to fight again. Whether I fight Belal when he’s champion, or if I fight Belal for a No 1 contender spot, eventually it’s going to happen.
“I have nothing but respect for Belal. He gets a lot of hate for no reason. But that’s definitely one I want to get back as a competitor first.”
Brady could be one fight away from a shot at the title, but the Philadelphia grappler is wary not to make the same mistakes that led to his only career loss.
“ I’m not trying to rush it,” he said. “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.”
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