Sean Brady did not take the Belal Muhammad loss well.
Brady (19-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) suffered his first-career loss to Muhammad by TKO at UFC 280. The setback hit the Philadelphia native so hard to the point he sought out a mental coach. Muhammad eventually went onto become UFC welterweight champion.
"I thought I was going to retire undefeated," Brady told Daniel Cormier. "I really, truly thought I would never lose, and then obviously, I did lose. My whole identity was wrapped up in being undefeated. When I lost to Belal, it devastated me. I thought the world was going to burn down. I thought my life was going to end when I lost that fight. I was devastated for months. I started working with a mental coach because I was f*cked up.
"I would be randomly
driving and I would just start crying. I hate losing so much, I just hate it. I have nothing but respect for Belal, but I still want to fight him because I know if we fight 10 times, I'll beat him nine out of 10 times, but he just got me that one time. I need to fight him. I need to wrestle him. I need to do jiu-jitsu. I have to compete against him again. Nothing against him – for me."
Brady rebounded from the Muhammad loss with three-straight wins which had him in the title conversations. However, Brady ran into undefeated Michael Morales, who finished him at UFC 322. Brady returned to the win column emphatically when he dominated Joaquin Buckley at UFC 328 in May.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Sean Brady admits he broke down crying after first-career loss to Belal Muhammad
