Michael Bisping: Sean Brady 'a nightmare situation' for Leon Edwards after Jack Della Maddalena was pulled

Michael Bisping thinks Leon Edwards now has a tougher stylistic matchup at UFC Fight Night 255.

Edwards (22-4 MMA, 14-3 UFC) was scheduled to face Jack Della Maddalena in the March 22 main event at The O2 in London, but will now take on Sean Brady (17-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) instead. Della Maddalena was pulled from the fight to challenge welterweight champion Belal Muhammad in the UFC 315 headliner on May 10.

With Brady’s strong ground game, Bisping worries Edwards about the adjustments the former champion will have to make.

“This is kind of a nightmare situation for Leon Edwards,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel. “I’m not saying Leon can’t beat him, but stylistically, and on short notice, this is a very, very different fight and potentially a harder fight than Jack Della Maddalena. Styles make fights. Leon is a sniper on the feet. Of course, he’s got great takedown defense.

“He was able to take down Kamaru Usman, fully mounted, and all the rest of it, right? We know he’s well-rounded. But when you’re training for Jack Della Maddalena, and you’re focusing on boxing and pretty much a standup affair, and you’re not really working on the takedown defense and defending chokes and all the variety of madness in the jiu-jitsu world that Sean Brady does offer, it’s a big mix-up.”

Edwards’ past four fights have been against standout wrestlers in the division. He was able to beat Kamaru Usman twice then Colby Covington, but eventually lost his title to Muhammad at UFC 304.

Bisping sees similarities in Brady and Muhammad’s approach.

“Now granted, all the work that he’s done in the past to beat Kamaru Usman, to fight and go up against Belal Muhammad, that’s all in the tank, OK?” Bisping said. “It’s like if you go out there and you win a fight really, really quickly, and people think, ‘Why did I bother? Why did I bother training?’ No, the reason you did that is because you still leveled up in training camp. Your skill set overall got better.

“Leon’s been preparing for these kinds of fights his entire career. Everyone that Leon Edwards fights, whether it’s Colby Covington, Kamaru Usman, Belal Muhammad, they’re all trying to take him down. So in a way, nothing changes for him. Yes, it’s not Jack Della Maddalena trying to box him, trying to piece him up on the feet. It’s Sean Brady, who’s very, very good, that dominated Gilbert Burns last time out, that’s going to be looking to take him down. So it’s the exact same fight, essentially, almost on paper, stylistically, that Leon had in Manchester last year when he lost the belt. That’s why I say it’s a bit of a nightmare.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 255.