Sean Brady spent most of UFC 322 fight week wondering if he’d even compete.
Brady, who is set to face Joaquin Buckley in a pivotal welterweight matchup at UFC 328 this Saturday, faced Michael Morales at the UFC’s annual trip to Madison Square Garden this past November. Brady entered the fight on an impressive run, but was stopped in the opening round by the undefeated Morales.
It just wasn’t Brady’s night, and while there’s more to the story, he knows it’s on him.
“Yeah, it’s crazy, I had a great camp,” Brady told MMA Fighting. “It’s funny: I had the best camp I ever had, and I still went out there, and I didn’t get it done, and I think that just comes down to me. There was stuff going on behind the scenes that week, but it’s no excuse. Morales still went out there and beat me, but it made me not be fully locked in and fully present like I was for Leon, like I was for Gilbert, like I was for Gastelum, so that’s where I learned the most.
“It’s those 15 minutes, or 25 minutes, whatever that fight is, I just have to be fully present, fully locked in, and I wasn’t, and I didn’t follow my game plan against Morales, and it cost me. But that’s fighting, and that’s fighting at the highest level against a young, dangerous up-and-comer, and yeah, it is what it is, man. …
“F*cking losing sucks so bad, especially [being] the competitor I am, but I have to come home, and I have to be a dad the next day, so you don’t really get to feel too sorry for yourself at the end of the day.”
Prior to the Morales matchup, Brady decimated and finished former champion Leon Edwards in the main event of UFC London in March 2025.
With Islam Makhachev winning the welterweight title later that night at UFC 322, there were a lot of questions about who would be the next-in-line fighter to compete for the 170-pound title, and the Brady vs. Morales fight was a big one in that conversation.
However, when Brady arrived in New York, he had to deal with something else besides normal fight preparation due to something that popped up with the New York State Athletic Commission.
“Like I won’t say too many details about it, [but it was] something with medicals to where we found out on Thursday that the fight might not happen,” Brady explained. “So it was up in the air for the next two days if this fight was even going to happen, and, ultimately, Saturday night, like right before I left for the fight, is when I found out I was still fighting.
“So it was hard to stay fully locked in, but that’s my fault. I should have been fully committed and fully locked in, but yeah, some shit happened we didn’t know until like, literally, a couple of hours before I left for the arena if I was still fighting or not.”
No word on what the reason for the medical flag was, but it certainly put a damper on what was a big opportunity for the perennially ranked welterweight.
As he looks to get back on track this Saturday against Buckley, Brady wants to make sure Morales gets all of the credit he deserves.
“Morales still went out there, he did his thing, and I’m looking forward to seeing what he does in the division,” Brady said. “When I lost to Belal, everyone shit on me, shit on Belal. Belal went on to be a UFC world champion. No matter what you say about him, he still was a champion, and I think Morales is going to be on the same path.
“If his big ass doesn’t move up to middleweight, I would like to hopefully get another crack at him one day, but if not, man, he’s a good kid, and I hope that he succeeds in his next fight for sure.”
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