Leon Edwards vs Sean Brady – UFC London LIVE: Updates and fallout after Brit submits in fourth-round defeat… with Molly McCann also retiring from the sport at the O2

Molly McCann left her gloves in the octagon tonight and while it will be remembered for Sean Brady’s clinic in the main event, ‘Meatball’ is one of the UFC’s great characters of the last few years. Her legacy won’t be in wins or defeats but perhaps the next generation of female fighters yet to break through to the big time.

Thanks for your company tonight – not a vintage one for London! Be sure to join us next time for UFC 314 next month when Volkanovski takes on Diego Lopes.

Christian Leroy Duncan, Lone’er Kavanagh and Nathaniel Wood flew the flag tonight but Mick Parkin, Molly McCann, Jai Herbert, Jordan Vucenic and Leon Edwards all suffered defeats on a bit of a dark day for MMA in the country.

Time on the mic is so important to capitalise on an incredible win like that. Belal is the only man to beat Brady and the Philadelphia man could have roared from the rooftops his desire for revenge. It feels like a bit of a missed opportunity.

There will be some soul searching in the months ahead for Leon Edwards. He’s 33, still should have miles on the clock but it’s the hunger of challengers like Brady that makes it so difficult to become a two-time champ. The attendance tonight was the highest grossing in Fight Night history.

Not a vintage night for the English fighters, it has to be said. Belal will have been loving that after hearing Edwards’ reasons for the defeat in Manchester.

Having performed so well to thwart the wrestling of Colby Covington and Kamaru Usman, many expected more of the same for Edwards tonight but he had no answers. It’s tough to see where he goes from here. Surely he’ll be desperate to fight another striker for a change.

Mystic Brady. The Philly fighter is heading off to enjoy time with his newborn and that time will feel even more special now.

That was incredibly one-sided. A disastrous night for Leon Edwards who will face a huge mountain to climb if he wants to win back that belt now. Brady took him down again with ease and this time the resistance was broken, with ‘Rocky’ choked to the point of tapping. You can’t argue with that kind of dominance and that’s one hell of an audition for the next title shot.

This is baffling. Edwards ends up on his back this round from shooting his own takedown attempt, being stuffed and then manhandled out of position. He was finding success for the brief spell on the feet before strange decision making led to another brutal few minutes taking punishment on the mat.

A takedown at the very start of the round is dreadful news for Edwards who is on his back for the entirety and manages to battle well to stay away from a couple of chokes and a kimura attempt. This is feeling uncomfortably like the Belal fight for ‘Rocky’, he desperately needs to keep this on the feet.

Within seconds, Brady throws a flashing combo that catches the former champ’s attention and midway through the opener he lands a shot that draws an expression of recognition. Brady secured a takedown with 20 seconds to go but couldn’t do much with it. Edwards seemed comfortable without quite finding his stride.

Buffer shows some bizzarely impressive flexibility outside the cage, stretching his legs high on a security barrier. Not too sure why he needs loose hamstrings for this but who am I to question the main man. He has the crowd in the palm of his hand and we’re moments away from this one getting underway.

Welterweight has an array of similarly upwardly mobile guys chasing the winner of next month’s clash between Jack Della Maddalena and Belal Muhammad. This will go a long way to clearing up the slightly muddy waters at 170lbs.

Leon Edwards has been stewing over his first defeat in about a decade for the last few months. You get the feeling he knows that ragdolling by Belal Muhammad has to have been an anomaly. We’ll soon find out because Sean Brady is not massively different in style. That’s probably why the bookies have the American as favourite.

Ulberg says: ‘The longest streak in the division so the only thing left is a title shot. He has a good grappling game so I just wanted to bang and move.’

The Kiwi showed he has a chin to go with his fluid attacking output towards the end of the third when Jan poured on the pressure, sending up a head kick and meaty right hand before the bell. A close fight but the point striking of Ulberg has probably seen him through.

Ulberg is the sharper but is very careful to slip out of range and not overthrow his shots, while Blachowicz is hunting and unable to quite put leather on skin. It’s a really tough one to score and there’s not be a defining moment in either of the first two rounds.

So much tension in the air of the O2 Arena over the first five minutes. Ulberg is very, very quick and whizzes shots narrowly past Blachowicz’s whiskers. The legendary Polish power hasn’t connected either but he is the man pushing the tempo and both are managing leg kicks with semi regularity. The first man to lose absolute focus is likely to suffer here.

Jan Blachowicz comes out to what seems like a kind of wartime theme tune with whistles – not massively intimidating. His co-main event opponent Carlos Ulberg does a cartwheel and spinning kick in close proximity when he enters the cage, which is a bit spicy.

Didn’t think I’d be using the duck emoji tonight but here we are. Aspinall pops up on the big screen and pulls a rubber duck out of his pocket. Think the message to Jon Jones is pretty self explanatory.

‘Next week works’, says Kevin Holland when asked when he wants to jump back in, he fights like it’s an office job.

Nelson almost locks in a choke but can’t quite pull the leg out of guard to give him enough leverage. Again, Holland slips out and ends the round on top, connecting with a jumping knee to the head and multiple knees to the legs of his opponent. To the judges we go. They’re earning their money tonight.

The American seems to have about eight limbs and is just impossible to pin down, which is what Nelson wants to do, he’s in the ascendancy for much of the second without ever really threatening and this final round could decide it.

Gunnar Nelson takes on Kevin Holland and is dropped with a big shot at the end of the first, it’s close to being stopped and the American lands one after the final bell, causing Nelson to shove him away. Is that a fight-altering blow?

Meatball will go down as a pioneer of the sport. It’s a sad way to exit but probably the right decision. That’s four defeats in five now and her opponent came in on nine days notice. Paddy Pimblett, who she is incredibly close to, looked emotional in the crowd.

The gloves were off in the octagon straight away and everyone knew what was coming. A classy speech, ending with ‘up the f***ing Toffees’, a perfectly Molly McCann way to bow out.

Molly McCann – UFC, Dana, Hunter, Mick. Tonight, it is not good enough, I’m not coming in for the payday. This little girl got to fight in arenas, to the little girls at home, look what I managed to do. Dana if you need an ambassador to fly around Europe, I’m good on the ale. One last thing, up the f***ing Toffees.

Meatball is choked out in the first. The crowd has gone flat. It looked as though she’d escaped the squeeze but there was only a momentary respite before it was locked in. Thainara then leapt onto the middle of the mat and twerked on the ground. One way to celebrate.

It’s go time for Meatball, can she bounce back to winning ways?

Meatball is in desperate need of a win here – she’s lit up the arena before and one of those magic spinnning elbows would go down a treat. It’s a big ask against impressive Brazilian newcomer Alexia Thainara.

‘I want Terence McKinney in Miami. I’m looking for the 50k though, Dana White you changed my life last time, please do it again!’

What a performance from the Scot! Just as it seemed Vucenic was finding his way back into the fight, Duncan jumps the guillotine, locks it in and that’s all she wrote. Underdogs are delivering tonight and that’s another one.

Duncan said he’d make his mates a lot of money tonight as a big underdog and his prediction looks pretty good so far. He drops Vucenic with body kick and right hand combo, spending the rest of the round on top.

Good old fashioned cross border rivalry now. Jordan Vucenic of England faces Scottish rival Chris Duncan. Bragging rights on the line and also a tattoo on the backside. Both have said they’ll ink the name of the other if they suffer defeat. Plenty on the line!

Jose Mourinho is enjoying his international break here and is given almost as big a cheer as Leon Edwards when he pops up on the big screen. ‘Rocky’ is in the building, looking relaxed and I reckon he’ll be in the cage in another couple of hours from now.

Wood: ‘I want to say that was for my daughter, she’s a proper fighter. It’s down to Dana who I fight next, put me in for a title shot tomorrow if you want I’ll take it. Hats off to Morgan, I hope to have a cup of tea and a beer with him later.’

Charriere is better value in the third but is it too little, too late? He throws multiple spinning elbows without really connecting and Wood always seemed comfortable, probably knowing he’s ahead. The judges should confirm that shortly.

Wood is finding a home for his shots like his Nottingham Forest namesake. His jab is getting through every time and looks the far sharper man on the feet. Charriere shoots for a takedown and the Englishman briefly threatens a submission before they scramble to the feet. Big five minutes ahead.

Wood sends Charriere to the canvas with a perfect right hand and the crowd are on their feet. The Frenchman survives an onslaught and ends up on top on the ground but his opponent lands some tasty elbows. Great opener.

England vs France to kick things off now. Morgan Charriere, the rising star from across the channel enters enemy territory against local lad Nathaniel Wood. This should be a cracker.

The best round by a mile. Herbert resists the takedown attempts and opens a huge gash above Padilla’s eye before ending the round on top. To the scorecards we go…

A solid elbow from short range is absorbed by Herbert late in the round but he had the better of the second stanza. Padilla complained of an eye poke but the ref waved it away. Herbert is working well from range without finding a telling blow.

A very uneventful first round would be the polite way of putting it. No meaningful shots landed and Padilla closes the round with Herbert pushed against the fence, which is probably enough to take it. Pockets of the crowd boo as the hooter sounds.

Jai Herbert is up now in the final pre-lim. Always great value and with the best nickname on the card for my money. Let’s see if he can get the crowd peaking for the main card.

The Spurs striker pats a disconsolate Dos Santos on the chest as the beaten man trudges back to his dressing room.

A bloody contest between Kavanagh and Brazilian opponent Felipe Dos Santos comes to a close to huge cheers from the home crowd, it feels as though the 18,000 are all in now.

Kavanagh doesn’t look like a man who’s won a fight, sliced by elbows from bottom and pouring claret but he was razor sharp himself and earned a unanimous decision win to stay undefeated at 9-0.

Louis Theroux, who performed 30 press-ups for Leon Edwards on a podcast a couple of months ago, has just been spotted mid-fight slipping in the back behind media row to take his seat. Didn’t have the mild mannered presenter as a fight fan but it seems like he’s here supporting ‘Rocky’.

Buenas noche to the featherweight champ, who’s graced the card with his presence tonight, he posed with Lone’er Kavanagh backstage – the first Londoner in action tonight before Nathaniel Wood becomes the second later.

There must be so many Polish fans in tonight, the roars for their man Tybura made it feel more Warsaw than London in here. I had Mick Parkin winning by a round but the judges disagreed and it’s the first setback of his career for the Brit. Incidentally, I’ve always thought Parkin’s nickname should be ‘The Bus’, Parkin the bus? No? I’ll get my coat.

Tom Aspinall is up out of his seat as Mick Parkin swings away at Marcin Tybura, nice to see solidarity between English heavyweights. The interim champ has big plans of his own in the near future as he revealed to Mail Sport this week.

Bruce Buffer has been down to Savile Row for tonight’s fit, never a hair out of place and the voice of the octagon is looking the business for what must be his millionth UFC card.

Christian Leroy Duncan absolutely dominates Andrey Pulyaev to become the first Englishman with his hand raised this evening. It was 30-27, 30-27, 30-26 on the cards and he bounces back from a hammering of his own against Gregory Rodrigues last time out. Next up, big Mick Parkin – Sunderland’s travelling support are making themselves heard.

Only two welterweight champions have reached the pinnacle again – Matt Hughes and GSP. It is a hugely difficult mission Edwards is on but it starts tonight against Sean Brady, who the bookies favor even in enemy territory. We sat down with the daddy of UK MMA, Michael Bisping, to pick his brain about tonight’s main event.

Kauê Fernandes upset the odds in the first fight of the night with a brutal display of kicking against Guram Kutateladze. I have a feeling that won’t be the first underdog of the night to bite hard…

Caolán Loughran exacted revenge for an amateur defeat by Nathan Fletcher in a really tight contest that went to split decision.

And Shauna Bannon made an early play for £50k after being floored before snatching an armbar victory.

Molly McCann is also in action tonight.

Can the ‘Meatball’ snatch the limelight in London?

Edwards has not fought since losing his title to Belal Muhammad in July.

Can he get a win tonight in front of his home fans to put himself back in the title mix?

Hello and welcome to Mail Sport’s live blog for UFC London.

It promises to be a thrilling night of action, with former welterweight champion Leon Edwards topping the bill against America’s Sean Brady.