MailBag: Where will Cain Velasquez’s legal battle and Sean Brady go from here?

Cain Velazquez I’m going to prison.

Former UFC Heavyweight Champion on Monday He was sentenced to five years in prison After suing a dispute over his attempted murder. Velazquez earns credits for the time he worked for. This means that you can spend two years behind the bar, as the lengthy legal battle is over. So, in addition to Cain’s ruling, let’s talk about this past weekend’s fallout. UFC London Card location Shawn Brady Domination Leon Edwards.

Cain Velazquez

“Hello Jed, my name is Mike Heck. My question is, as someone who dabbled in the legal field, how did you respond to Cain Velázquez’s verdict?”

For those who don’t know, once upon a time I was a lawyer before leaving that field and coming to the wonderful world of MMA. I’m not banned anymore (I’m not practicing so keeping my bar cards would be a bit ridiculous), but I still have legal knowledge so I can say this with confidence. You can’t start chasing your car and shoot other cars recklessly.

For those unnoticed, in 2022, Velazquez went on a high-speed 11-mile chase after a car, including Harry Goalte, a man accused of abusing the fighter’s son at a nursery owned by Goalte’s mother. Velazquez then fired several rounds from a .40 caliber handgun with a vehicle containing the Golarte, but instead shot his stepfather, Paul Bender, in the arm. He was successfully arrested soon.

Since Velazquez was first arrested, support for the former heavyweight champion has skyrocketed, and there hasn’t been a shortage of people declaring that he has done nothing wrong. Those people are wrong. What happened to Velázquez’s son is a terrible tragedy, but Velázquez is not a judge, ju judge or executioner. You can’t just kill or try to kill people, especially when they’re not convicted of anything yet. If we allow it, society is completely broken.

Some people are not going to agree with that, but what even the most enthusiastic supporters of Velázquez can admit, even if it appears that Velázquez is justifying him to attack Gurázte, is that Velázquez puts only Gurázte in danger with his actions. That’s evidenced by the fact that he shot someone else. Frankly, it’s a small miracle that no one was seriously injured during the 11-mile car chase and the reckless shootout.

When this all started, I was thinking Velazquez was watching a 10 year bid. So I think Velazquez should be pleased with this outcome, in order to leave this in just five years. The prosecutor in this case was looking for a 30-year sentence. He got a small portion of it. And if Velázquez had been even more unlucky that night, someone could have died, and instead of returning home next year, Velázquez would have spent the rest of his life behind the bar. Now, Velazquez remains in prison for about a year, which is certainly not a joy, but it is everything that takes into account everything. And, frankly, it feels like the right compromise in this situation.

Shawn Brady

Will Sean Brady take the belt from Beral Muhammad of Amirite?

Hmm, no?

Let’s start here: Sean Brady’s performance on Saturday was spectacular. I thought Edwards would be revitalized and made things very difficult with Brady. Brady seized the initiative from the opening bell and never gave up. Plus, he not only defeated Edwards, but he also broke him.

By the third round, “Rocky” didn’t want to be there anymore. So Edwards shot an attempted takedown, despite being outclassed on the ground as he was mentally defeated. He was simply going through the move until Brady found a way to finish him. It’s tough, but that’s what I saw on Saturday and it’s a complete credit to Brady for making it happen.

But do you think Brady defeated Beral Muhammad? No, I saw them fight before, so it wasn’t competitive. This doesn’t mean Brady isn’t getting better or he has no chance, but that fight wasn’t long ago, and it was Brady walking a dog who “remembers his name.” It’s not like the Berals have looked bad since then. He is the guy who wrote the blueprint because Brady defeated Edwards, which followed.

If Brady can consistently get a takedown, he is a threat to anyone in the welterweight division, but his strikes are still lacking and there are guys who are really hard to beat to 170. I think Berals are a bad style matchup for Brady, so if there’s no dramatic change, if they’re going to rematch again, I’m helping Muhammad to get it done again.

So, what should we do with Sean Brady?

Is it a potential battle for Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Sean Brady, or is Leon Edwards increasing his weight class to fight Israeli Adesanya?

I’m not going to be rude, but both are terrible ideas.

Let’s focus mostly on the Brady vs Shabkat fight, as some people have dumped this as something that should have happened. My counterpoint: Why?

Rakumonof I had it Title fight. It was booked, he was ready for it, and the champion retreated with an injury. Instead of waiting a few months for the Beral to get better, Rakmonov solidified the UFC, staying at UFC 310 and accepting short-term changes from his opponent to win. Why does he think he should fight again before he gets his proper title shot?

And the same applies to Brady. Why should he fight again? He only beat the former champion and the first place guy in the weight class. Sean Brady did well. There is no need to thin out the candidate herd. Rakhmonov will face the winner of Muhammad vs. Jack Della Maddarena later this year, with Brady working as a backup fighter. This is very easy.

(That being said, I’m choosing Shavkat, even if they fight.

Of course, Leon Edwards is going to advance to middleweight. He’s not big enough to maintain success in weight class, but if he wants to do it, he can probably beat some people. But booking him for Israel Adesanya is the worst idea I’ve ever heard. Over 25 minutes of battles throw 12 total strikes, leaving everyone deaf from the decibel level of booing. No thank you very much.

Leon Edwards

If you’re staying at Leon’s UFC top, how will his legacy compare to that of Michael Bispin? Which of these is the UK UFC fighter?

Also, I’m interested in your thoughts on Leon vs Jorge Masvidal – is it now the best time to make this happen?

For me, the Edwards vs. Bispin question is a very simple answer, but I don’t know if people agree: Leon Edwards is bigger than Michael Bisping, but not so important.

Bispin is the godfather of British MMA. Even if he had never won the UFC title, “The Count” would still be a very important fighter in the history of the sport. But then he got a mess and won the belt in one of the most Disney movie turns in MMA history. When people think about British MMA, Michael Bispin is always the first name that comes to mind.

That being said, I think Edwards has achieved quite clearly more than bispin. Most of Bispin’s career was defeated by the best opposition he faced. It took him forever to reach the title shot, despite the UFC desperately wanting to get it. On the other hand, Leon has been universally considered wonderful, but is kept in tedious. He won every big fight he was in, even if it was ugh at times.

More importantly, Leon defeated the greatest of all time to win the welterweight title and added two defenses. Bispin’s title victory was legal, but he lost to career welterweight Georges St. Pierre before defending (and nearly losing) against Dan Henderson’s shell. Clearly, Leon is, in my mind, two better, more skilled fighters.

Yes for all Jorge Masvidal. It was when I pulled the trigger for Leon Edwards vs Jorge Masvidal. Edwards seemed pointless and awful towards Brady, most of which is probably because of Brady, but a part of me thinks Edwards might not be able to lock him up anymore. Masvidal is certainly the person to bring it out to him, and now we can have some fun as Leon is outside the title photo.

Carlos Ulberg

Does Carlos Ulberg’s performance against Jan Blachowicz suggest he won’t become a champion? I think at this stage of their career he needed a decisive decision or victory. Then again the LHW is washed, so who knows?

In Saturday’s co-main event, Carlos Wolberg won a narrow-decised victory over former light heavyweight champion Yan Bracowicz. That was… a bad thing. But here’s it: it’s not entirely Ulberg’s fault.

The truth of the matter is Jan Blachowicz is Sonuvabitch to fight. Other than Glover Teixeira, who’s got him down and smacked him – who’s been better at looking at Jan in the last five years? The two top light heavyweights in the world, Magom Doan Karaev and Alex Pereira, both split up with him, as it is impossible to beat Brakowicz quite a bit. He makes a defensive and balanced sound so no matter who is fighting him they won’t look good.

That being said, Ulberg looked particularly bad. As much as I admired Brakovich, he was only 42 years old and had long layoffs and shoulder injuries. I won the January battle. I’m not saying this in any way, but MMA history suggests that fighters willing to take risks rarely win titles. They may already hold a winning title, but it’s rare to see them take the belt from someone.

Also, yeah, light heavyweights are devastatingly bad. No one can count from acquiring a belt in that weight class because something could happen.

Thank you for reading and thank you to everyone who sent me a tweet (xs?)! Are there any burning questions about at least some relevance to combat sports? Then you are lucky because you can send your tweets to me, @jedkmeshewand I will answer what I like! As long as they’re good it doesn’t matter whether they’re local or insane. Thank you once more, and take a look at y’all next week.