Sean Brady issues a friendly challenge to Li Jingliang for a July fight, gets a middle finger emoji response
One of the UFC's brightest prospects, Sean Brady, has called out a fellow rising star in the 170lb division. Brady is still undefeated at welterweight and is looking for his next opponent to further progress him up the rankings.
That opponent appears to be Li Jingliang. The Chinese fighter is ranked two places ahead of Brady at 11th. He is also coming off an extremely decesive and dominant victory over Santiago Ponzinibbio.
Brady calls out 'The Leech'
Brady took to Instagram to call out Jingliang, after the two fighters had a back and forth on Twitter that has now been deleted. The Instagram post showed a screen grab of the exchange, with Brady asking:
"Jingliang what's up man July?"
However, Jingliang's only apparent response was to post an emoji of a middle finger. This prompted the following caption on Brady's Instagram post:
"Jingliang 🖕🏻me ???? Fight me then in@ufc also don’t delete the tweet next time #dork July let’s go answer that ☎️"
A Fight That Makes Sense
Whether the back-and-forth is simply an attempt to build up fan anticipation for a potential matchup, or if there is genuine dislike between the two fighters, it is a fight that would appear logical for both men to take.
Brady holds a 14-0 record and is already ranked 13th in the welterweight rankings, despite only being four fights into his UFC career. Solid wins over the likes of Jake Matthews and Court McGee earned him that spot. However, he is likely still in need of some more experience before breaking into the top 10.
Jingliang may not have the undefeated record that Brady holds, but he does have notably more experience. He has eight more professional fights and has competed 12 times in the UFC.
Supported by a huge Chinese fanbase, Jingliang has racked up wins over Frank Camacho, Dhiego Lima and Elizeu Zaleski. Whilst losses to Jake Matthews and Neil Magny have somewhat limited his rise, the brutal round one KO of Santiago Ponzinibbio firmly placed him back on track.
A win for either man would likely see them break into the division's top ten. This is debatably an optimal time for young prospects to make their name. Some of the biggest stars of the sport are milling around the welterweight division, including Jorge Masvidal who has recently fallen to 7th after dropping consecutive losses to Kamaru Usman.