The welterweight division has too many title contenders at the moment. #5 ranked Jack Della Maddalena, of course, is set to face champion Belal Muhammad for the latter’s welterweight title at UFC 315 tonight. Then there is #2 Shavkat Rakhmonov, the undefeated boogeyman of the division, had to turn down the title shot due to an injury.
Then there is Ian Garry, coming off a win over knockout artist Fighting Nerds team member, Carlos Prates, who thinks he has done enough to fight for the title. Not to mention former champion Kamaru Usman and Joaquin Buckley are set to clash to find out if the former is over the hill or not. The winner of that fight will also almost definitely fancy themselves as s title contender.
And then there is the ever-underrated and always-dangerous Sean Brady, who is coming off of demolishing Leon Edwards like he was fighting an unranked guy. Brady finished ‘Rocky’ in the fourth round, something not even Belal Muhammad managed to do at UFC 304, where he wrested the title from Edwards. Moreover, the American is ranked #1 in the division. Surely he has the best claim to a title fight. He does, but the American, being the workhorse he is, wants to fight yet again.
“Everyone in the division is saying they deserve a title fight next. I’m the only one saying I’ll fight again even though I just beat the #1 contender,” Brady said on the UFC 315 weigh-in show. And the American knows exactly whom he wants to fight next– Ian Garry.
“Me and Ian. Me and Ian should fight. Whoever wins [should get the title shot]. Like, even if Belal wins and he isn’t able to fight for a while; like I wanna fight towards the end of the summer, like, August. Let me and Ian fight, and then whoever wins that is the true– even though I know I’m the true #1 contender– whoever wins [is the real #1 title contender],” Brady told the crew. But then again, the #1 welterweight will have to wait a long time if he wants his next fight to be for the title.
Why Sean Brady will have to wait until 2026 to fight for the title
Sean Brady is definitely behind Shavkat Rakhmonov in the title picture. Yes the American is ranked higher than ‘Nomad’. But the only reason Jack Della Maddalena is fighting for the title tonight is that Rakhmonov turned it down because of an injury. In fact, the Kazakh was set to fight Belal Muhammad for the title last year. But that fight fell through because ‘Bully B’ got a bad bone infection.
So he will almost definitely get the first preference for a title shot. Then there is the spanner in the works in the form of lightweight champ Islam Makhachev. The Dagestani is waiting with bated breath for the result of the UFC 315 main event. If his friend, Muhammad, loses the title, Makhachev has announced his intentions to move up to 170 and fight Maddalena for the title.
Not to mention if Kamaru Usman beats Buckley in June, it would be difficult to deny him a title shot. he may be 0-3 in his last three, but one of those fights he was dominating until the fifth round, before Leon Edwards landed a perfect head kick; and the other was a fight at middleweight he took on short notice. Against Khamzat Chimaev, no less, and the fight was reasonably close, too.
He is also the second greatest welterweight of all time (behind only GSP) and many think deserves a chance to redeem himself. So Brady will probably have to fight someone else and hope he can keep his #1 ranking until at least next year, which is when he looks likely to fight for the title if everything goes his way. What do you think about Sean Brady making a case for a title shot?
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