Exactly, and Belal vs Brady was also years ago, and Brady's skills progress over time as well, and he's way better now too.
Leon historically loses to anyone with strong grappling. Usman was taking Leon down at will in their first 2 fights, Colby was able to find success in the grappling in the later rounds of their fight and Leon had nothing on the ground for Brady. Stylistically Belal is still not a good match up for Brady regardless of how good Brady gets. Sean's only path to victory is grappling and if he can't get it off he has no other way to win for certain. Where as Belal has shown to be able to finish dudes on the feet and win decisions on the feet.
Belal has finished exactly one guy on the feet in like his last 20 fights.
it wasn't nearly as long ago as those other fights, belal finished him 2 years ago and has improved massively since then as well, his striking clearly looks better now than it did back then. Belal beat leon for 4 rounds and lost round 5 based on 1 elbow in the final 30 seconds, 48-47 implies it was some tough fight for belal even though he won 20 minutes of a 25 minute fight and dumped leon on his head. Brady had a better performance against leon though but at the end of the day he got finished when him and belal fought and that's what matters
That's still one guy at the highest level. Sean Brady hasn't finished anyone on the feet in the UFC. That's not to say he couldn't but we're going by what has happened, not what could but hasn't happened yet.
We could go on all day about what could have been the reason behind the scenes that lead to the result but the reality is Belal finished Brady that night so he was the better fighter.
I personally believe Leon's mental was compromised after losing to Belal and Brady was not fighting the same version of Leon as Belal did, but as I said in my above. We could speculate all day about the reasons for results but that doesn't change the fact Brady was just the better fighter tonight. I think that's a reach to say it was a very competitive fight. Leon managed to steal two rounds off Belal then went on to get dominated for the other 3 rounds. That does not make for a very competitive fight IMO.
The only area I can see JDM giving Belal problems is on the feet. If he can figure that out I don't see him losing as JDM does not have anything for Belal on the ground. I mean yeah he gave Burns some trouble on the ground but we're talking about an older and just coming off of injury Burns.
Belal vs Dos Caras would be bananas
Belal “Smoke Break” Whats his faceBelal is just so damn boring. Thank God GSP saved us from Fitch and Shields becoming champion! We need a GSP to bring down Belal too.
Two judges had it 48-47, that is indeed a competitive fight. It means Leon managed to win 2 rounds off Belal.
Well at least we can agree on one thing, Belal was definitely the better fighter on that night, just like Luque was a better fighter than Belal on the night when he chinned him.
And Big Nog
I obviously think Belal would still beat Brady today but neither of us will know for certain until they fight again.
Fuck me, this post is scraping the barrel. Embarrassing. LMFAO.That would make Alan Jouban Belal what's his name's father, and Leon and Sean's grandfather.
Dude got beat by a male model / MMA analyst and part time fighter Cristiano Ronaldo lookalike.
And let's not forget Vicente Luque, who delivered by far my favorite Belal moment:
GSP - a fighter known primarily by a three letter acronym.Belal is just so damn boring. Thank God GSP saved us from Fitch and Shields becoming champion! We need a GSP to bring down Belal too.
