Dana White Announces Five Big Surprises

Leon Edwards vs sean brady

Originally, Leon Edwards was set to face Jack Della Maddalena in the main event of UFC London, but due to some changes and replacements, Sean Brady takes the Australian's place to be the headliner of the event.

Regardless of who Rocky fights, he is looking for redemption from his title loss in his last fight when he suffered a defeat to the current Welterweight Champion, Belal Muhammad at UFC 304. 

With three title wins in his name, Edwards will simply be aiming to get back to winning ways, in convincing fashion, in order to get his shot back for the 170-pound throne.

Brady has arguably been under the radar in the UFC Welterweight division until most recently when he earned a submission win over Kelvin Gastelum at Austin, and an unanimous decision win against Gilbert Burns at UFC Vegas 97.

The Philadelphia-born fighter currently sits at #5 in the 170-pound rankings as a win against the #1 contender will put him in title contention.

alexander volkanovski vs diego lopes

Many had thought that Alexander Volkanovski would finally get his long-awaited rematch with Ilia Topuria, but El Matador made the decision to vacate his UFC Featherweight Championship due to health concerns on the weight class and move up to Lightweight. 

Because of this, there was only one rightful challenger that was deserving to compete against the former 145-pound champion and that would be Diego Lopes.

Volkanovski has been considered as one of, if not, the greatest Featherweight in MMA history with six title wins to his name and big wins over the likes of Max Holloway, Brian Ortega, Chan Sung Jung (The Korean Zombie), and Yair Rodriguez.

In The Great's last bout, he suffered his first loss in the UFC Featherweight division when he was knocked out by Topuria in the second round at UFC 298, while also losing his champion status in the division.

Lopes has only been with the UFC for less than two years as despite losing his debut with the organisation, he made a quick rise and became very well-noticed after knockout wins at UFC 295 and UFC 300, before defeating the likes of Dan Ige and Brian Ortega in his most recent fights.

The #3 Featherweight contender always seemed next in line after Volkanovski, but the wait for a title shot is over as he can finally claim an opportunity he has been dreaming about all of his life.

michael chandler vs paddy pimblett

There was rumours surrounding that this bout was going to happen with many speculating that it could happen at UFC London.

But with Michael Chandler and Paddy Pimblett being big name and fan-favourites in the UFC, it only made sense that they fought each other in a PPV event as we can see whether the American can redeem himself or if the Scouser can rise up the Lightweight rankings.

Chandler has only won one fight in his last five which saw him knockout Tony Ferguson at UFC 274, redeeming his losses to Charles Oliveira and Justin Gaethje.

Since then, Iron has been struggling to find any success as he's suffered a submission loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 281, failed to fight Conor McGregor although that was more due to the Irishman's injury, and lost in his rematch against Oliveira by unanimous decision at UFC 309.'

Pimblett has yet to be defeated in the UFC as he has become a more anticipating fighter to watch the more he fights, especially when he earned two submission wins which both occurred at the O2 Arena in 2022.

The Baddy last fought at UFC 304 where he put on one of the most impressive submission wins of the year as he defeated Bobby Green in the first round at UFC 304, and now that he's facing a former title challenger, it puts him a step closer to fighting for the belt if he is successful.

belal muhammad vs jack della maddalena

It was always thought that Belal Muhammad would make his first title defence against Shavkat Rakhmonov, especially after their first supposed matchup was cancelled for UFC 310 due to an injury from the Palestinian. 

However, with Rakhmonov being injured and not having a lot of time to recover for UFC 315, Jack Della Maddalena moves from fighting in London to Montreal as he becomes the replacing challenger for this Welterweight Championship bout.

Muhammad has looked like an unstoppable force of nature with his 11-fight unbeaten streak being a key statistic which has caught the eye of MMA fans.

His long-awaited title shot finally happened in his last bout when he put on a pretty dominant display to secure a decision win over Leon Edwards and claim the Welterweight title at UFC 304.

Della Maddalena has yet to be defeated since his first two losses in his MMA career as he has been noticed as a future title challenger during his time in the UFC.

The Perth mixed martial artist copied Muhammad's opportunity to UFC gold when he defeated Gilbert Burns by third-round TKO at UFC 299, putting himself as the #4 contender and the soon to be unexpected challenger for the 170-pound belt.

valentina shevchenko vs manon fiorot