Sean Brady is still battling an infection that forced him to withdraw from UFC Vegas 124.

It was reported earlier today that Brady had withdrawn from next week’s main event after suffering an injury.

No reason was given at the time as to why the welterweight contender couldn’t compete in what would have been his second outing of the year.

With the UFC calling Johnny Walker to book a replacement main event, it has now been revealed why the original headliner was scrapped on short notice.

CHANGE MY MIND: Sean Brady will win a UFC title before his career is done. 💯

Sean Brady believes a little cut led to staph infection that he’s still not recovered from

Sean Brady beat Joaquin Buckley in May to start rebuilding his momentum as a top contender in the welterweight division.

Following the news that he’ll no longer be facing Gabriel Bonfim on November 7, he posted a podcast explaining what caused him to withdraw.

He said that his training camp was going to plan until last week when on Tuesday, he started to have issues with his knee.

“My knee was a little bit swollen after [training]. By nine o’clock at night, I couldn’t walk,” he said on The BradyBags Show. “Wednesday morning, I already knew because I’ve been in this situation before. I’ve dealt with bursitis and s— and I knew this wasn’t bursitis. I knew it was an infection… I could barely walk.”

Brady said he had to wait for bacteria to grow before the doctors could tell what the infection was, which they confirmed days later was staph.

He was hoping to get this drained and still be able to fight, but is still dealing with the setback after repeatedly going through this process.

Brady believes that this was caused by a small cut on his knee, the same knee he injured before his TKO loss to Michael Morales last November.

He showed photos during the podcast of how swollen his knee was and him repeatedly getting the infection drained.

Sean Brady targeting January return after missing out on fighting again in 2026

Sean Brady said that when speaking to the UFC about his infection, he pushed to still compete again this year.

Unfortunately, the remaining events in 2026 are either not an option for him or already full, leading him to target the January 16 card in Dallas next year instead.

Brady also said that he thinks the promotion might rebook his matchup with Gabriel Bonfim due to the lack of other options at the top of the division.

“I feel for Bonfim too. It sucks, man,” he added. “I’ve been there where guys pull out, you’re two weeks out and then you don’t know if you’re fighting, you’re looking for a new opponent. I know he was putting in the training camp, trust me, and that’s what sucks. I did a ten week training camp for this.”