Sean Brady earned the biggest win of his career when he defeated Gilbert Burns over five rounds to win a unanimous decision in the main event of UFC Vegas 97.
Brady showed nonstop pressure, a relentless pace, and significantly improved striking power, and simply didn’t let Burns get going during the fight. This was especially impressive considering Brady’s best weapon is grappling, but that weapon was largely nullified, requiring him to showcase his other skills to defeat Burns.
When the fight was over, there was no doubt that Brady had done more than enough to win. The judges scored the fight 50-45, 50-45 and 49-46, giving him the win.
“Gilbert is a tough guy, but I knew that beforehand,” Brady said after the win. “I just stayed mentally and physically focused. I’m living my dreams, it’s unbelievable. Gilbert is tough as hell. I thought I would work better standing up than on the ground. I stuck to the game plan.”
Brady was actually forced to show all of his skills throughout the fight, as Burns refused to take him to the ground, and when he did, the multiple grappling champion quickly switched positions. However, that didn’t stop Brady from getting back into the clinch and wearing Burns down at a high pace.
Standing, Burns still showed plenty of power when throwing his biggest punches, but Brady actually showed solid striking power when he fought the former welterweight title contender. Although he had some success in these exchanges, Brady fell back into his grappling style of continuing to push forward, pinning Burns against the cage, and then going for takedowns again.
When Burns finally had some room to maneuver, he landed a few hard punches on Brady and then slammed knees to the midsection, which caught the Philadelphia native’s attention. After getting hit with a few of those hard punches, Brady immediately went for a takedown and knocked Burns to the ground just before the end of the third round.
Brady managed to stab with a nifty outside jab, but was still hit hard by Burns on the outside. Burns landed a few hard overhand right punches, but Brady took the punches and went back into the clinch to slow the pace again.
That led to another big takedown from Brady, but it didn’t take long for Burns to turn him over again, showing that he’s still one of the best grappling fighters in the division.
As time ticked down to the final whistle, Brady began to knock Burns down with some nasty inside leg kicks, but the Brazilian wasn’t giving up. Burns went for a knee strike but couldn’t get far enough and Brady landed another takedown as he counted down the seconds to his victory.
Burns has now picked up two straight wins over Burns and Kelvin Gastelum since suffering his only career loss to current welterweight champion Belal Muhammad in 2022. He takes a big step forward in the division after beating an established challenger like Burns and now Brady is hoping he will face one of the division’s young guns next.
“I should be way ahead of Ian Machado Garry,” Brady said. “I want someone in the top five. But if not, Ian and I are going to get the same damn manager, Lloyd (Pierson), to do the shit.”
