Sean Brady caused an upset in the main event at Saturday's UFC Fight Night 255, which took place at London's O2 Arena.
The welterweight contender dominated his division's former champion Leon Edwards, utilizing his grappling acumen and clear physical advanatges to bully "Rocky" on the canvas, before securing a guillotine from the top position to pick up the biggest win of his career.
The co-amin event (much like a lot of the fights on the card) was a cat-and-mouse affair, as Carlos Ulberg eeked out a decision victory over former light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz.
Kevin Holland returned to winning ways when he picked a unanimous decision victory over the returning Gunnar Nelson, while Brazilian newcomer Alexia Thainara demolished fan favorite Molly McCann inside one round. "Meatball" laid her gloves down inside the Octagon and retired immediately afterwards.
Overall the card failed to live up to it's billing, with nine decsions along the way.
Performance Of The Night Bonus Winners
- Shauna Bannon pulled off a stunning armbar finish on the undercard after being dropped by Puja Tomar with a headkick. The Irish strawweight, a former kickboxing world champion, has now won two on the bounce after losing her UFC debut to Bruna Brasil.
- Kevin Holland surprised many with his exciting display against Gunnar Nelson on the main card. Follwoing a difficult run of results at middleweight, "Trailblazer" looked back to his best at 170 pounds.
- Alexia Thainara had quite the introduction to life in the UFC, dancing her way to the Octagon before submitting one of the biggest names in women's MMA, and earned herself an extra $50,000 in the process.
- Sean Brady's dominant victory over the hometown favorite champion Leon Edwards may well launch him into title contention in the welterweight division, and it also earned him a performance bonus.
MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 4 p.m. ET)
Welterweight
Sean Brady defeated Leon Edwards via submission (mounted guillotine) at 1:39 of round four
Light heavyweight
Carlos Ulberg defeated Jan Blachowicz via unanimous decision
Welterweight
Kevin Holland defeated Gunnar Nelson via unanimous decision
Strawweight
Alexia Thainara defeated Molly McCann via submission (rear naked choke) at 4:32 of round one
Featherweight
Chris Duncan defeated Jordan Vucenic via submission (guillotine) at 3:42 of round two
Featherweight
Nathaniel Wood defeated Morgan Charriere via unanimous decision
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 1 p.m. ET)
Lightweight
Chris Padilla defeated Jai Herbert via split decision
Flyweight
Lone’er Kavanagh defeated Felipe dos Santos via unanimous decision
Heavyweight
Marcin Tybura defeated Mick Parkin via unanimous decision
Middleweight
Christian Leroy Duncan defeated Andrey Pulyaev via unanimous decision
Strawweight
Shauna Bannon defeated Puja Tomar via submission (armbar) at 3:22 of round two
Bantamweight
Caolan Loughran defeated Nathan Fletcher via split decision
Lightweight
Kaue Fernandes defeated Guram Kutateladze via unanimous decision