Eblen and Edwards separated at heated face-off

2 years ago 39

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Leon Edwards quizzes brother Fabian on world title opponent Johnny Eblen

Middleweight champion Johnny Eblen and Britain's Fabian Edwards had to be separated at a heated face-off before their title bout at Bellator 299.

Tensions threatened to boil over when the pair met after making weight for Saturday's fight in Dublin.

Security intervened as they exchanged words while being spurred on by onlooking team-mates.

Edwards' team repeated the words "and new", which was met by chants of "and still" by American Eblen's contingency.

Birmingham's Edwards, 30, is aiming to join his brother and UFC welterweight title holder Leon, as a world champion.

Leon was in attendance to support his younger sibling at the weigh-in, nodding in approval as he walked on stage, but was quiet, disengaging from most of the heckling.

As 31-year-old Eblen was introduced, he raised his belt emphatically towards the audience, before outlining his desire to defeat Edwards and remain champion.

Eblen, who is unbeaten in all 13 of his fights, will be making the second defence of his belt, while Edwards comes into the bout on a three-fight winning streak after beating former champion Gegard Mousasi in a title eliminator in May.

Elsewhere on the card, Ireland's Sinead Kavanagh faces Australia's Sara Collins at featherweight, while the co-main event sees Portugal's Pedro Carvalho take on Aaron Pico in a men's featherweight contest.

Bellator official Burt Watson hyped up each fight on the card - much to the amusement of the audience - by declaring "we've got a fight ladies and gentlemen, all night long" as each pair of fighters faced off.

Edwards relaxed despite underdog status - analysis

Johnny Eblen and Fabian Edwards face off before their middleweight title bout at Bellator 299 in Dublin

Despite the pair having to be separated, Edwards carried the relaxed demeanour on stage he has shown in much of the build-up to this fight, motioning to officials he was calm and was not going to strike out at Eblen.

Before Thursday's media conference Edwards was singing to himself, and playfully grappled with his team-mates after finishing his interviews.

He goes into his world title fight against the undefeated Eblen as underdog, but has displayed no signs the opponent or occasion will overawe him.

But in Eblen he is facing one of the best middleweights in the world, whose undefeated streak has led to an unwavering confidence which he displayed during the heated meeting on stage.

In many ways, Edwards' fight mirrors Leon's when he defeated Kamaru Usman for the UFC welterweight title last August.

Edwards is predominantly a striker, like his brother, with many pundits predicting Eblen to outwrestle him, like they did with Usman and Leon.

But Leon won that fight, against the odds, becoming the first British MMA world champion in a major promotion since Michael Bisping in 2016, and perhaps Edwards takes inspiration from that before their showdown at the 3Arena.

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