Leon Edwards was submitted by Sean Brady on his return from losing his welterweight title last summer at UFC London.
Edwards enjoyed a bright start as he looked to bounce back from defeat to now-champion Belal Muhammad, starting on the front foot and landing numerous significant strikes.
But from the second round onwards, Brady dominated on the ground in a bout that drew easy comparisons to his title-losing fight to Muhammad at UFC 304.
Unlike his fellow grappling specialist, though, Brady managed to find a finish in front of the Edwards-partisan London crowd, tapping out the former champ early in the fourth round with a guillotine choke.
It puts Brady very much in the mix for a title shot down the line, with the Philadelphia fighter sure to have a keen eye on Muhammad’s clash with Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315.
Condemned to back-to-back defeats against high-level grapplers, Edwards now faces an uphill battle to ever return to the title picture, with Saturday’s defeat acting as another blow to his already declining stock.
Liverpudlian star “Meatball” Molly McCann also grabbed the headlines as she called time on her MMA career following defeat to Alexia Thainara.
Thainara, who came in to face McCann after original opponent Istela Nunes pulled out at the 11th hour, impressed on her promotional debut and submitted the scouse sensation with a rear-naked choke.
A trailblazer in the sport, McCann became the first Englishwoman to win in the UFC, and her immense heart, desire and ability to win over a crowd will be sorely missed from the UK combat scene.
Elsewhere, Londoner Nathaniel Wood opened the show with a firecracker against Frenchman Morgan Charriere, steaming to a unanimous decision victory in his home city.
Carlos Ulberg eked his way to a tight decision win over light heavyweight ex-champion Jan Blachowicz, putting the rising Kiwi star in closer contention to a title shot.
Chris Duncan and Kevin Holland also picked up impressive victories against Jordan Vucenic and Gunnar Nelson respectively, while Shauna Bannon produced a sublime comeback win on the prelims – submitting Puja Tomar with an armbar moments after being knocked down.
It was a history making night for the UFC, who recorded their highest ever gate for a Fight Night event – raking in £3.22million.
