UFC London: Final Thoughts

UFC London has come and gone and boy did it drag at times.

The main event was interesting, though not terribly entertaining. Sean Brady totally dominated Leon Edwards with his wrestling, smothering him for long portions of the fight before securing the submission. It was a great showing for Brady, but Edwards' inability to compete with him meant for quite a dull fight.

For however dull the main event was, though, it was nothing compared to the co-main. Jan Blachowicz and Carlos Ulberg failed to engage each other in much meaningful offense. Instead they traded leg kicks for 15 minutes. Ulberg landed more, though hardly any of the strikes landed in this fight looked very hard. He'll rocket up the rankings, but this wasn't exactly a statement from him.

Kevin Holland and Gunnar Nelson delivered on entertainment. Nelson looked good early on, but he was sparked at the end of the first round and almost finished with ground and pound. He looked dazed for the remainder of the fight. He remarkably managed to stay conscious for the next two rounds despite Holland cracking him a few more times, both on the feet and off his back. Holland put in a great performance, but who knows what he will look like in his next fight.

Alexia Thainara had a coming out party on the main card. She danced her way to the Octagon, finished Molly McCann with a great rear naked choke and then danced herself out of the cage. McCann announced she would retire after the fight, which seems for the best. HIGHLIGHTS!

Before that Chris Duncan stunned Jordan Vucenic. He scored a knockdown in the first and then imposed his more familiar wrestling/grappling game. Vucenic made some silly choices in trying to take down Duncan and paid for it with a submission loss. HIGHLIGHTS!

Nathaniel Wood opened the main card with a solid, though not spectacular, shutout win over Morgan Charriere.

The featured Prelim was another snorefest. Chris Padilla got by Jai Herbert in a fight that featured very little offense.

Lone'er Kavanagh and Felipe dos Santos almost made up for all the stinkers. Those two threw down in a bloody battle that was easily the best fight of the night. Kavanagh took the decision and signalled himself as one to watch at Flyweight.

Marcin Tybura beat Mick Parkin and Christian Leroy Duncan beat Andrey Pulyaev in two more fights that no one will want to watch again.

Shauna Banon had our only other finish of the night. She was dropped by a Puja Tomar headkick, but somehow came to and got herself an armbar win.  HIGHLIGHTS!

Before that Caolan Loughran beat Nathan Fletcher in a close and mediocre fight. And Kaue Fernandes opened the show by putting on a leg kick clinic against Guram Kutateladze, dropping the Georgian multiple times.

Where does Edwards go from here?
Brady calls for a title shot.

Hard to deny him after that performance.

Official decision: Sean Brady def. Leon Edwards via submission (guillotine), round 4 (1:39)

Sean Brady mopped the floor with Leon Edwards tonight. Brady smothered the former champion for most the fight and put him away with a tight guillotine in the fourth round. Brady inserts himself into the title picture at Welterweight.

It's tight!

Edwards taps. Wow. Total domination from Sean Brady.

Brady gets the takedown again.

He's in Edwards' half guard. He goes for the guillotine.

30-27 for Brady after three.

Edwards has no answer for Brady on the ground.

Edwards is drowning in there.

Brady is not giving him an inch on the ground. Every time Edwards tries to buck, Brady is there to land right back in a dominant position. Brady isn't landing a lot of offense down here, but he's exhausting and demoralizing Edwards.

Edwards manages to get back to half guard.

Brady lands some big ground and pound and then moves to the back.

Brady thought about a guillotine...

But then went position over submission. He gets in Edwards' half guard and then beautifully passes to full mount. Over three minutes left in the round.