UFC Predictions: UFC Fight Night: Leon Edwards vs. Sean Brady

Next weekend sees the UFC visit London for the first time in well over a year. The event is a Fight Night card, but it looks very deep nonetheless.

UFC Fight Night: Leon Edwards vs. Sean Brady features some genuinely tremendous fights, and if all goes well, this could be one of the year's best events yet.

Here are the predicted outcomes for UFC Fight Night: Leon Edwards vs. Sean Brady.

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#1. UFC welterweight bout: Leon Edwards vs. Sean Brady

This weekend's headliner features arguably the most successful British fighter in UFC history making a return to action for the first time since July.

The last time fans saw Leon Edwards in action, he was completely stifled by Belal Muhammad, losing his welterweight title in the process. It was a performance that was more frustrating than it was disappointing, as 'Rocky' simply couldn't get a lot done.

This is his chance to put things right. Sean Brady is certainly no less dangerous than Muhammad. While he lost to 'Remember the Name' in their own clash in 2022, he's now hit a stride and could well be a more difficult match for Edwards.

So can the native of Birmingham put himself right back into title contention? Or will this be a coming-out-party for Brady to launch his own run at the crown?

Everyone knows about Edwards' game now. While he's best remembered for his head kick knockout of Kamaru Usman, he isn't really a knockout artist, and is more adept at picking opponents apart with combinations.

'Rocky' is also an underrated grappler and is quite happy to handle foes in the clinch, particularly if it suits him when he's facing a more explosive kickboxer like Donald Cerrone, for instance.

Where this fight becomes interesting is the fact that against Muhammad, Edwards had little answer for an opponent capable of swiftly closing the distance and taking him down.

Brady, of course, is a grappler by trade, and while he isn't quite the wrestler that Muhammad is, he's more dangerous with submissions. We saw him completely dummy Kelvin Gastelum, for instance, tapping him with a kimura after taking him down numerous times.

Against Gilbert Burns, meanwhile, Brady looked improved again. He not only escaped some bad positions on the ground, but looked like he'd come on in leaps and bounds with his striking.

Edwards did claim that the timing of his fight with Muhammad limited his output, which might be a fair point. In order to sell pay-per-views in the US, the bout took place at around 5 a.m. UK time.

However, it's also hard to shake the feeling that Muhammad was simply a bad stylistic match for 'Rocky', and if that's the case, then Brady will provide just as tricky a challenge.

Given Edwards isn't likely to make many massive improvements at this stage, then, this one could be hard for him.

Brady will need to step up again in this fight, but his overall improvements make that highly probable. If he can avoid allowing a hostile atmosphere to effect him, then, he could make this a bad night for the UK.

The Pick: Brady via decision

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#2. UFC light heavyweight bout: Jan Blachowicz vs. Carlos Ulberg

This light-heavyweight bout might be one of the most unfairly overlooked clashes of 2025 thus far. It pits a former UFC champion who is still ranked at No. 3 in Jan Blachowicz against a fighter on the best win streak in the division in Carlos Ulberg.

It's highly likely that the next light heavyweight title bout will be a rematch between Magomed Ankalaev and Alex Pereira. However, the winner of this one could be next in line, and if that rematch can't be made, then to see Blachowicz or Ulberg in the next title bout wouldn't be a shock.

So who is likely to take it? It's a battle of experience against explosiveness, basically.

Blachowicz is, of course, a knockout artist in his own right. The Polish star has dispatched the likes of Dominick Reyes and Corey Anderson with his vaunted punching power.

However, he's now 42 years old, and is beginning to slow down somewhat. Against a striker as explosive as Ulberg, then, he may want to utilise his clinch and wrestling to force 'Black Jag' into a dirtier fight, hopefully grinding him down.

The question is whether that approach is viable. Ulberg came into the UFC in 2021 with a lot of hype thanks to his friendship with Israel Adesanya. However, a debut loss to Kennedy Nzechukwu quickly knocked his hype train off the rails.

Since then, though, 'Black Jag' has won seven in a row. More impressively though, his win streak has come quietly, and has allowed him to build his overall skills up along the way.

Ulberg is still a heavily explosive striker, as he showed when he dispatched Alonzo Menifield in just 12 seconds last year.

However, he's also shown flashes of improvement on the ground - a tapout of Da Woon Jung was reminiscent of Blachowicz's own sudden grappling improvements a decade ago.

Most impressively, Ulberg outfought Volkan Oezdemir in his last fight in the kind of bout Blachowicz will want to drag him into. Oezdemir used leg kicks, forward pressure and clinch work to attempt to slow 'Black Jag' down.

However, the approach didn't work that well, as Ulberg used his jab, quick combinations and smart footwork to land the better shots throughout, claiming a decision. Despite a lack of finish, it was his most impressive showing to date.

Given that Ulberg didn't slow down or really allow Oezdemir to get fully comfortable, Blachowicz should probably be concerned here.

If 'Black Jag' were coming in off that Menifield KO, then Blachowicz would probably be confident in being able to slow him down and grind a win out. However, given he hasn't fought in nearly two years and is old, even for a 205 pounder, whether he's still capable of such things now is questionable.

Blachowicz should be able to go the distance, as he's still tough and very durable. However, while he still has a puncher's chance, expecting him to grind down Ulberg is a difficult task.

The pick, therefore, is Ulberg via decision in a similar fight to his last one.

The Pick: Ulberg via decision

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#3. UFC Fight Night: The Main Card

In a fascinating-sounding welterweight clash, Gunnar Nelson takes on Kevin Holland. Once considered one of the division's hottest young prospects, Nelson is somehow now 36 years old.

'Gunni' is actually riding a two-fight win streak coming into this fight, but he hasn't fought since March 2023 and the other of those wins came in March 2022. Essentially, injuries and a sporadic schedule have prevented him from coming close to reaching his potential.

Quite what he has left to offer, then, is hard to say. The same, however, could be said for Holland. 'Trailblazer' has lost four of his last five bouts, and is coming back down to 170 pounds following a stint at middleweight.

Basically, this one depends on whether either man can come in at their best. Nelson is a wonderful grappler with a karate-style dangerous kickboxing game when he's on, but he's fought so sporadically it's easy to imagine him being rusty.

Holland, meanwhile, is a threat everywhere too, but tends to be inconsistent, and can often leave himself wide open, particularly on the ground.

Overall, this could go either way but it's just difficult to trust Nelson based on his long layoff, so the pick is Holland via TKO.

At strawweight, Molly McCann takes on Istela Nunes. A UK favorite, McCann hasn't always lived up to the hype around her, but she still has star power, which might explain this matchmaking.

'Meatball' dropped to 115 pounds last year and looked excellent against Diana Belbita, but then fell to Bruna Brasil in a disappointing showing.

This time, then, she's taking on a fighter in Nunes who is 0-4 in the UFC and who hasn't really given any glimpses that she belongs there. Realistically, this is a set-up for McCann, and to see her lose would be a major shock. The pick is McCann via TKO.

In a lightweight bout, Chris Duncan faces Jordan Vucenic. The UK's Vucenic came into the octagon last year with the reputation as a dangerous grappler. However, he was outpointed by the powerful Guram Kutateladze in his debut, and needs to show that he belongs here.

Duncan, meanwhile, is slightly more well-rounded. The Scottish fighter is 3-1 in the octagon, and looked good in his last bout, a win over Bolaji Oki. Overall, this one is tough to pick as both men look to be on a similar level, but due to his experience, the pick is Duncan via decision.

Finally, Nathaniel Wood takes on Morgan Charriere in a featherweight clash. Wood has been around for a long time now, and while he hasn't developed into a title contender, his surgical striking style and strong fundamentals make him tough to beat.

Most notably, 'The Prospect' has only lost three times in the octagon, and has only been stopped once.

Charriere is an interesting case, though. 'The Last Pirate' has a patchy record of 20-10-1, but carries serious power in his strikes and has only lost once in the octagon.

This should come down, then, to whether Charriere can manage to get through Wood's jab and combinations and land something heavy. If he can do that, then this is a winnable bout.

However, 'The Last Pirate' was outduelled by Chepe Mariscal last year, and that means that fighters can survive his power. Given 'The Prospect' has only ever been stopped once, then, the prediction is Wood via decision.

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#4. UFC Fight Night: The Prelims

Picks in bold

UFC lightweight bout: Jai Herbert vs. Chris Padilla

UFC heavyweight bout: Marcin Tybura vs. Mick Parkin

UFC flyweight bout: Lone'er Kavanagh vs. Felipe dos Santos

UFC middleweight bout: Christian Leroy Duncan vs. Andrey Pulyaev

UFC strawweight bout: Shauna Bannon vs. Puja Tomar

UFC bantamweigh bout: Nathan Fletcher vs. Caolan Loughran

UFC lightweight bout: Guram Kutateladze vs. Kaue Fernandes