UFC London roundtable: What are Leon Edwards and Sean Brady fighting for?

After nearly two years away, the UFC finally returns to London.

On Saturday, the UFC returns to the O2 Arena for UFC London, and the world’s leading promotion isn’t the only thing that’s back. In the main event, former welterweight champion Leon Edwards makes his first return to the octagon since dropping the title to Belal Muhammad at UFC 304 in a pivotal matchup with rising contender Sean Brady.

What’s at stake in this marquee main event matchup and what are some of the other highlights for the UFC’s trip across the pond? MMA Fighting’s Alexander K. Lee, Mike Heck, and Jed Meshew put their heads together break down the biggest things happening this Saturday in London.

1. What are Leon Edwards and Sean Brady fighting for on Saturday?

Heck: Their welterweight championship lives, in all likelihood.

Leon Edwards gets the hometown headliner in his first fight since losing the title to Belal Muhammad. Everything is on the line for Edwards. A loss is truly catastrophic in my opinion. Why? The UFC didn’t want to give him a championship opportunity to begin with, but they had no choice. “Rocky” won the title in one of the most iconic endings to a championship fight in UFC history before winning a pair of workman-like decisions against Kamaru Usman in the rematch, and Colby Covington. They gave Muhammad, who the UFC tried to keep from a title fight as long as possible, and he got it done against Edwards.

Edwards gets another fight in his home country — not at 6 a.m. local time this time around — but it’s against a very good fighter that doesn’t have a huge name. Edwards will probably not fight for welterweight gold again with a loss.

For Brady, because of not having that huge name, he’s essentially in the same place his predecessors are in: He’s going to have to win, and win a lot before he gets his chance. The other issue, Muhammad already dominated and finished him. A win over Edwards shortens the path slightly, but a loss knocks him back down the hill, only to have to push the boulder back up. But like we all say, there’s nothing wrong being one of the five or 10 best people in the world at anything.

Meshew: A title eliminator bout.

Aside from being a former champion, Edwards is also the No. 1-ranked welterweight in the UFC rankings right now. Brady, meanwhile, is No. 5 and only has one loss in his career, the Muhammad beatdown he suffered. In 95 percent of cases, this fight would be an no-doubt-about-it title eliminator matchup. But of course, this isn’t most cases.

The UFC in 2025 is far from a meritocracy and there are a number of factors at play in the welterweight division. The biggest blocker is that no matter what happens on Saturday or at UFC 315 when Muhammad defends his belt against Jack Della Maddalena, no body is jumping Shavkat Rakhmonov in line. Shavkat 1000% has dibs on the next title fight, so either Edwards or Brady is stuck waiting.

On top of the Shavkat problem, there’s also the looming question of Islam Makhachev. The lightweight champion desperately wants to fight for a second title and if Muhammad loses his belt, even money says the UFC makes it happen immediately, given that he’s one of the company’s biggest stars.

So with these kind of blockers in front of them, it’s extremely likely that whoever wins on Saturday is going to need one more win to get a title shot. Fortunately for them, there are a couple of good options for just that. Ian Machado Garry and Joaquin Buckley are on the cusp of earning their own title fights and so my bet is that the winner of Edwards vs. Brady fights one of those two in an indisputable title eliminator matchup, maybe even as a support fight for the inevitable Rakhmonov title shot later this eyar.

Lee: The love and affection of the people, and ain’t that enough?

Truthfully, Edwards should get another shot at Muhammad if he convincingly beats Brady, which is entirely in the realm of possibility. The majority of fans won’t be heartbroken if the UFC moves on from the Muhammad-Edwards rivalry (Conor-Nate, this ain’t), but Edwards was on a lengthy unbeaten streak before losing the title and coming off of back-to-back wins over Usman. Is it fair to ask him to climb back to the top the hard way?

Fair ain’t fair in this business, as we know, so I’m only half kidding when I say the best Edwards can hope for is a lively reaction from the London crowd that makes him look like a top-tier star on March 22. It still feels to me like he’s one more win away no matter what (as Jed said, Shavkat Rakhmonov has dibs), so raising his Q rating with a dominant win over Brady wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

As for Brady, he can really endear himself to all of us by breaking up the monotony at the top of the welterweight division. It’s a long shot, but the door is open for Brady to make an unlikely breakthrough into the top 5 of the division.

2. Are Jan Blachowicz and Carlos Ulberg fighting for a title shot?

Meshew: Oddly enough, I think they are. Maybe not immediately, but I think the winner’s next fight is for the belt.

The lighy heavyweight division got shook up in a big way this past weekend when Magomed Ankalaev dethroned Alex Pereira. Before that, it was Pereira’s world and the question was whether or not he’d move to heavyweight. Now? It looks like an immediate rematch is coming and all talks of heavyweight are out the window.

That’s good news for Ulberg and Blachowicz. Yes, they’re stuck in line behind Pereira for the next title fight, but after that, there’s not much other traffic in the way. The case is easiest for Ulberg who, if he wins, will be on an eight-fight win streak and is some desperately needed fresh blood atop the division. For Blachowicz, it’s perhaps less likely but he’s still a former champion who gave both Ankalaev and Pereira some of their toughest fights. If Blachowicz wins and wins impressively on Saturday, I think the UFC might try and squeeze one last title fight out of the Legendary Polish Power.

Lee: Yup.

That title rematch is Pereira’s whenever he wants it, but should he decide to take a well-deserved break from action, that leaves the door wide open for Blachowicz to step through. Blachowicz’s history with Ankalaev gives that rematch some juice (the first fight was good, Dana!), and Ulberg is an easy sell should he over come Blachowicz at UFC London. Handsome guy, exciting fighting style, fresh challenger, what more could the UFC ask for?

Neither guy is guaranteed anything and I’d lean towards Ulberg benefiting more from a win than Blachowicz, because of the aforementioned reasons, but how the fight plays out will definitely factor into the matchmakers’ decision. If Blachowicz mixes the martial arts to grind out a win or if Ulberg ekes out a narrow decision, you can bet they (and Ankalaev) will be just fine waiting for that Pereira runback.

Heck: Probably not with how UFC 313 shook out.

There was a lot of talk about the biggest losers following Magomed Ankalaev’s title win over Alex Pereira, but while they may not be the biggest, Blachowicz and Ulberg lost a little bit with the result. Had Pereira won, there was a real chance the winner of this fight got next, but with Ankalaev becoming the first new champ of 2025, a rematch with Pereira is a near certainty. And if I had to guess, that fight probably doesn’t happen until October in Abu Dhabi. That’s A LOT of time between now and then to sit on the sidelines — especially with big fights like Jamahal Hill vs. Khalil Rountree on the books.

Blachowicz lost a lot more than Ulberg did, however. Dana White hated his first fight with Ankalaev, and I have a hard time believing the UFC decision makers will see much appeal for Big Ank Time vs. Legendary Polish Power 2. The winner of this fight is in great position, but they’ll likely have to fight again.

3. Outside of the top-2 fights, who is the fighter to watch?

Lee: Trivia question: Which heavyweight has the longest active win streak in the UFC right now?

I will wait.

Yes, you guessed it, it’s “Marvelous” Mick Parkin! Not Tom Aspinall, not Jon Jones, but the big Brit that’s now 4-0 in the UFC and 10-0 as a pro. The hottest fighter at 265 pounds and up (technically he’s tied with “Salsa Boy” Waldo Cortes-Acosta, which just shows you how hot the heavyweight division is right now), Parkin can further separate himself from the pack if he beats veteran contender Marcin Tybura.

Facetious tone aside, there’s a realistic chance that Parkin challenges for the UFC heavyweight title in 2025. Read that again.

Jones is nowhere to be seen, Aspinall will probably defend against someone in the next four months, and if Parkin can make it a spectacular six straight wins by summer, you better believe he could meet his countryman in a championship bout in the near future.

That’s right, there may be no UFC London fight with higher stakes than Parkin vs. Tybura.

Heck: I’ll go with the low hanging fruit when it comes to these U.K. cards and roll with Molly McCann.

“Meatball” is super over on every one of these cards, and will be one of, if not the biggest favorite on the slate. Here’s the unfortunate thing for McCann: She was originally booked to face a fighter that’s 0-4 in the UFC, including three stoppage losses. McCann got a matchup, outside of something insane, she would probably win decisively with a bonus-earning finish. Now, she gets a tougher fight against a debutante coming off of a very strong win on Dana White’s Contender Series.

I doubt McCann’s job is in jeopardy after losing three of four, but the lion’s share of belief a chunk of the fan base still has in her will dwindle a lot more if she drops to 1-4 in this stretch. This is a big one for McCann, and I, for one, am intrigued by this storyline.

Meshew: While I can’t fault either of my colleagues for their choices, I must thank them for leaving the fighter I really wanted to talk about to me: Lone’er Kavanagh.

Kavanagh is making his sophomore UFC appearance following his debut win over Jose Ochoa in November, and we should all be excited. Kavanagh is a Cage Warriors product from the most recent season of Contender Series where he was my top-graded prospect. And I’m far from the only person who is high on Kavanagh. The British Top Team product has all the makings of something special in the flyweight division.

Kavanagh is a bundle of explosive energy but it’s channeled in all the right ways. He’s got good mechanics, great defense, incredible kicks, and he never gets too far out over his skis. Basically he has all the hallmarks of a future title challenger and he’s just 25 years old.

And on Saturday he takes on Felipe dos Santos, a decent enough prospect in his own right, and one who has already been thrown to the wolves in the octagon. Dos Santos gave future flyweight title challenger Manel Kape a damn good run for his money in his UFC debut and so I expect him to be stiff opposition for one of the best prospects in the sport.

I can’t want for this one.