Sooo … About Last Night

Last night (Sat., March 22, 2025), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) ventured forth to The 02 Arena in London, England for UFC London. As always, a “Fight Night” event hitting the road equates to a better card of fights. European talent was on display throughout the evening, as the undercard felt like a full Cage Warriors event … which is usually a good thing, but these “Prelims” seemed to go on forever, so more like a bad CW card? Later on the main card, two former UFC champions in Leon Edwards and Jan Blachowicz aimed to get back in the win column and title picture in one fell swoop.

Let’s take a look back over at UFC London’s best performances and techniques:

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Brady Ends Edwards

Sean Brady … what is there even to say?

Brady outclassed Leon Edwards. It was competitive for exactly one round, five minutes that took place entirely on the feet and still saw Brady land some decent shots. He actually committed to his wrestling in the opening seconds of round two, and from that point forward, Edwards was in desperation mode.

Not only did Brady make the takedowns look easy, but he was incredibly dominant on the canvas. Edwards’ output was consistently used against him, his scrambles countered with positional advances or submission threats. He spent most of ten consecutive minutes being smothered and crushed by Brady, leaving him fairly weak in his defense of the guillotine when round four came along.

Brady has rebuilt from his Belal Muhammad loss in tremendous fashion. He looks ready for a title shot, though leapfrogging Shavkat Rakhmonov is a tall ask. Either way, the opportunity for gold will come to him sooner rather than later — he’s just that good!

As for Edwards … is his career over? This is the first time he’s been finished and the first time he’s lost consecutive fights. Perhaps more importantly, he just sort of fell apart. The takedown attempt early in round three was bad, the look of a fighter who didn’t want to be there anymore.

At just 33 years of age, it may be time for “Rocky” to look inward and ask himself some important questions.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Kevin Holland Belongs At 170

The judges found a way to give Gunnar Nelson a round, but Holland spent most of 15 minutes beating his ass.

At distance, Holland chewed up the lead leg and threatened him with long right hands, convincing Nelson to wrestle. The problem is that wrestling didn’t really help Nelson’s situation. If he dragged Holland down — which was far from easy — Holland would still end up landing more shots from his back and threaten with submissions. If the takedown failed — more common — Nelson ended up in the clinch, getting abused by knees, elbows, and breakaway right hands. Nelson was absolutely saved by the bell when one such right hand on the break floored him in the closing seconds of round one.

Give Holland another 10 seconds to work and we’re talking about a KO win.

Holland’s game works so much better at Welterweight. The bigger men at Middleweight can sit on him, shut down all that interesting guard work and turn would-be clinch exchanges into successful takedowns. Holland knows it too, but his motivation for frequent paychecks could send him up to 185-pounds again regardless.

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Duncan Hits The Jump Gilly!

Chris Duncan did it again.

He started his bout versus Jordan Vucenic strong, stunning the ex-Cage Warriors champion and controlling the first frame with his wrestling. Generally, he just looked much stronger when the two wrapped up, and it seems his time at American Top Team was really paying off in the way he was able to chain together his takedown attempts.

By round two, however, Duncan was a little more tired. Vucenic’s combination punching and generally more fluid boxing was allowed to flow, and he started winning more exchanges as a result. He denied takedowns well and fired good counters, taking back the momentum a bit. Unfortunately, Vucenic couldn’t help but grapple, and Duncan was fishing for his neck the entire fight. In the closing moments of the second round, he jumped guard onto a tap-inducing guillotine, his second gilly finish in a row.

His team mate Dustin Poirier must be quite proud.

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Cage Warriors Champs Go To War

Anybody who knows ball was excited about Nathaniel Wood vs. Morgan Charriere ahead of UFC London. Both men are experienced and technically skilled, and the style clash seemed to promise an exciting scrap. In most ways, the bout lived up to expectations, with the notable exception of Wood looking way sharper and more dominant than most expected.

Wood’s speed advantage was huge here — which is saying something because Charriere is quite the athlete himself. Still, the former Bantamweight was able to get a read on his opponent’s timing almost immediately, which allowed him to score some crushing early counter shots. Even as Charriere dialed into Wood’s speed, the English fighter was able to dart in and interrupt his offense before it started on many occasions.

What made the fight so fun is that both men wanted to trade in the pocket. The duo were slipping-and-ripping simultaneously, and even if Charriere was getting outworked, “The Last Pirate” landed enough hard shots to keep his foe honest. There was no “flash a jab and retreat” strategy from either man, just quality boxing on display.

All told, the bout was great fun, and Wood genuinely looked better than ever.

Photo by Adam Davy/PA Images via Getty Images

Additional Thoughts

• Alexia Thainara defeats Molly McCann via first-round rear naked choke (highlights): Molly McCann is a fun fighter, beloved by the UK fans and occasionally capable of a neat finish. Unfortunately, she’s just not that good, and even on short-notice, an athletic prospect in Thainara simply steamrolled her on the floor. She made it look easy, securing her 10th straight victory in the process. McCann retired afterward, and she still deserves love for having more of a UFC career than most would’ve expected on her signing.
• Lone’er Kavanagh defeats Felipe dos Santos via unanimous decision: A Flyweight BLOODBATH! Dos Santos surprised Kavanagh early with his varied offense, cutting up the blue chip prospect and forcing him onto the back foot more than most expected. Kavanagh answered back in the second with a vengeance, biting down on his mouthpiece and slugging until the Brazilian was wrestling in desperation. Kavanagh reversed his way into top position and found a clean avenue to success: battering his opponent from top position. The final frame was really competitive, as both started to fatigue. Kavanagh’s power and wrestling proved a winning combo, as he was able to snag the third and seal the victory. Now 2-0 in the Octagon, the English prospect very much looks like he’ll develop into a real contender in the coming years. Dos Santos, meanwhile, is far more skilled than his 1-3 UFC record would indicate.
• Marcin Tybura defeats Mick Jenkins via unanimous decision: This wasn’t a particularly fun fight, but bouts don’t come much closer. Tybura did well in the first to manage his opponent’s boxing advantage, using head movement, funky kicks, and general body work to keep the numbers tight. Just as he seemed to be gaining momentum, however, Jenkins caught a kick and controlled the Polish veteran for the entire second round. Jenkins was ahead going into the third, but Tybura dug deep and kept his output high, making for a really close final frame and fight overall. Ultimately, Jenkins loses his undefeated status, and 39-year-old Tybura somehow keeps on keeping on!
• Shauna Bannon defeats Puja Tomar via second-round armbar (highlights): This fight infuriated me with its amateur quality. Bannon threw roughly 500 side kicks, hopping around on one leg like a child at a Taekwondo yellow belt demonstration. Worse still, Tomar seemed to have no answers for the hapless hopping. Finally, she came up with the obvious solution of stepping to the side and firing a head kick, catching her foe on one leg (a la Amanda Nunes vs. Holly Holm and Rose Namajunas vs. Michelle Waterson). Bannon went out but woke back up, immediately throwing her guard high for an armbar. The armbar from guard almost never works anywhere outside of women’s MMA fights on the “Prelims,” but guess where this bout took place? Credit to Bannon for her toughness, but the whole affair was one of the most low-level UFC bouts in recent memory.

For complete UFC London results and play-by-play, click here.