Sean Brady says that the blueprint to defeat Leon Edwards had been long established.

Brady improved his career record to an impressive 18-1 with a fourth-round submission win over the former UFC welterweight champion, handing the Briton his second successive defeat on home soil in Saturday night’s UFC London main event. But perhaps more surprising than the win itself was the manner in which the Philly native achieved it; rarely allowing Edwards a moment to impose himself in the contest before coaxing a tap from the Birmingham man with a modified guillotine choke.

And while Brady now chases down a title bout with the only man to hold a win over him in his career, 170-pound kingpin Belal Muhammad, Brady says that no one — not even the champion — could handle Edwards quite like he did.

“That’s how you beat Leon,” Edwards told the media post-fight in London on Saturday. “The blueprint was kind of written in a lot of his fights and I just did it a lot better than anybody else has been able to do it. Even when he shot on me, Leon’s a very technical fighter but when you make it a real hard fight, he tends to break and I could see he was breaking.

“I knew he broke once he shot on me because that’s the last place he would want to be is on the ground with me. Once I knew he wanted to grapple with me, I knew it was going to be over soon.”

He added of his performance: “I think I did a lot better than Belal did. I think Belal lost a couple of rounds. He had his back taken for an entire round. I think it was 3-2 when they fought. I dominated Leon every round. No one’s ever did it like me. Then I submitted him and made him quit in front of his hometown.

“If we were in Philly, you ain’t making me quit in front of my hometown, I’ll tell you that. I’m going to sleep, son. Just remember that.”