Daniel Cormier was surprised with how dominant Sean Brady looked vs. Kelvin Gastelum.
Brady (16-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) submitted Gastelum (18-9 MMA, 12-9 UFC) this past Saturday at UFC on ESPN 52. After two rounds of complete control on the ground, Brady cinched in the Kimura submission in Round 3.
Cormier compared Brady’s performance to his lopsided win over Dan Henderson in 2014, when Cormier also rag-dolled his opponent then submitted him late.
“Sean Brady pitched an absolute shutout,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “I couldn’t have imagined that he would fight that good. I’m telling you guys, the last time I saw a dominant performance like that with the grappling, it was mine. It was when I fought Dan Henderson.
“Everything that Kelvin Gastelum was gonna do, it’s like Sean Brady knew and was a step ahead of him – everything. Everything he did, he was a step ahead of him. It was an amazing performance for a kid that people were starting to question because of the way he lost to Belal Muhammad.”
Prior to beating Gastelum, Brady suffered his first-career loss to Belal Muhammad by TKO at UFC 280. He was able to rebound in emphatic fashion.
“For a kid that people were starting to question for the way he lost to Belal Muhammad, they said he wasn’t very good, but this guy is (16-1) now,” Cormier continued. “He was 15-0, and people were saying, ‘Well, this guy is not that good.’
“I don’t know if that was to knock Belal or if they really believed that this kid wasn’t that good. I was so impressed. I was sitting talking to Bisping, and I’m like, ‘Dude, I don’t think people recognize what they are witnessing in this performance by Sean Brady.'”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 52.
