Big business here at welterweight. No. 5 vs.
No. 9 in the official rankings. Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170)
vs. Sean Brady (@seanbradymma)
is verbally agreed for Oct. 22 in Abu Dhabi, per sources. pic.twitter.com/z2DodT19HS— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN)
July 8, 2022
A high-stakes welterweight matchup is the first fight booked for
the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to the
United Arab Emirates in October.
In March, the promotion
announced that it would be heading back to the Etihad Arena on
Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Since then, no fight
had been booked for that UFC 281 lineup until Friday. The UFC’s
broadcast partner of ESPN
broke the news that Belal
Muhammad (21-3, 1 NC) will square off with Sean Brady
(15-0) in a pivotal battle at 170 pounds. The Oct. 22 fight has
been verbally agreed to, and contracts are expected to be signed
soon.
Muhammad is currently riding a stellar eight-fight unbeaten streak,
with a trio of recent victories from 2021 to date over Demian Mama,
Stephen
Thompson and Vicente
Luque. Before then, a matchup against Leon
Edwards ended early in Round 2 due to an accidental eye poke,
resulting in a no contest. Prior to the Edwards meeting, “Remember
the Name” had triumphed four times in a row over the likes of
Dhiego
Lima and Lyman Good.
The Chicago native holds an exceptionally low finish rate of 24% as
a pro, with 10 of his 12 UFC victories coming by decision.
Philadelphia’s Brady has yet to taste defeat as a pro, and he
joined the roster in 2019 and went on to rattle off five straight
wins in the Octagon. A pair of decisions over Court McGee
and Ismail
Naurdiev preceded two submissions over Christian
Aguilera and Jake
Matthews. Since then, Brady passed the top-10 test by defeating
Michael
Chiesa on the scorecards. The stoppage rate for the Renzo Gracie
Philly product is not as low as Muhammad’s, but it does clock in
below 50% at 47%.