Sean Brady is being counted out by many as he takes on Olympic gold medalist Jordan Burroughs under the Real American Freestyle banner this weekend. Many are counting out the surging UFC welterweight contender as he takes to the mats against Burroughs at RAF 12 on August 22nd, but UFC’s most proven underdog thinks the fanbase should not be counting out Brady here.
Frankie Edgar is the combatant in question, and the ex-UFC lightweight champion is coming off of his own wrestling win against Clay Guida at RAF 11. Real American Freestyle is booking some interesting matchups that cross between martial arts disciplines, and when asked about the Jordan Burroughs versus Sean Brady at RAF 12 on Saturday, Edgar said [via Bowks Talking Bouts],
“No, absolutely. [Sean] Brady, I don’t think he’s coming from a real wrestling background but he’s obviously a dominant grappler-wrestler in the UFC. Super strong. Yeah, and also if you; Sean Brady beat Craig Jones in a grappling match. So, you can’t count him out. Can’t count him out. Going after the best guy in grappling and now he’s going after the best guy in wrestling. It’s just pretty admirable.”
Sean Brady is bummed he was snubbed for a hometown fight at UFC 330
Sean Brady has a consequential contest of seismic proportions coming up in the coming days, considering Burroughs’ pedigree, but not getting an offer for UFC’s latest numbered event in Philly was deflating for him. The Philadelphia-based mixed martial artist spoke about this matter to Home of Fight, and Brady stated [via MMA Mania],
“After I fought [Joaquin] Buckley, obviously we all have bumps and bruises, and for the most part I was pretty good, but I never got offered anything. If you look at the division, I’m No. 5, me and [Gabriel] Bonfim are right next to each other — so I know there were some talks about me and him potentially fighting at some point. And he had just fought Belal, so it would have been shorter notice for him on the Philly card. So, I guess there were no real good options, and they didn’t offer me anything.”
“I know a lot of the fans are disappointed — and I get messages all the time asking me if I’m going to be on the Philly card, and at this point, they aren’t adding any fighters to it. We got Jeremiah [Wells] on it, but that’s it. It’s cool that you get two title fights, but the rest of the card is underwhelming. It’s just unfortunate that they didn’t have any local people on the card.”
