As Fabian Edwards is driving to his gym in Birmingham, an image flashes in his mind.
The picture depicts Edwards and his older brother Leon as world champions.
Edwards barely has time to acknowledge the scene, which shows the brothers both holding titles, before his focus shifts.
The 30-year-old is on his way to the gym to train for the biggest fight of his career – against former middleweight champion Gegard Mousasi at Bellator 296 in Paris on Friday.
Should Edwards win, he will be in prime position to challenge Johnny Eblen for the world title and the chance to join his brother – who holds the UFC welterweight belt – as a world champion.
Siblings like Anthony and Sergio Pettis, and Patricio and Patricky Freire, have all held world titles, but never at the same time across multiple major MMA promotions.
“When it happens [winning the title] I think I’ll be able to put it into words, and I know it’s a thing that’s going to happen,” Edwards told BBC Sport.
“But the start is beating Mousasi. It’s a number one contender fight, a big opponent and in a Paris main event, so it’s definitely the biggest fight of my career.
“Leon always told me: ‘This fight is just the same as an amateur fight. Don’t put any pressure on yourself. Don’t let the moment be bigger than you’.
“That’s someone who knows what I’m like as a person and for him to give me that direction, is just priceless.”
Edwards was born in Jamaica but moved to the UK around the age of eight.
In Jamaica, his father was the leader of a gang which saw the brothers exposed to drugs, gun violence and murder.
The family moved to Britain for a safer upbringing, but tragedy would soon strike with Edwards’ father killed in a shooting in London.
That led the brothers down a difficult path and into the world of gang violence in Birmingham, before Leon found a way out after joining an MMA gym.
But it would be years later before Fabian followed his brother into MMA.
“I was in college, I wanted to be an electrician. But I was misbehaving a little bit and I wasn’t really interested in [MMA] that much,” said Edwards.
“I got myself in trouble and went down a troubled path. But I learnt from being in trouble. I learnt this isn’t the life for me.”
Edwards was inspired by the changes his brother had made in his life since joining an MMA gym.
“There were odd words here and there, but he never got ‘on to me’ because I wouldn’t listen anyway,” laughed Edwards.
“He didn’t necessarily encourage me with his words, but through his actions.
“Because he’s the older brother, you tend to look at him doing that and think ‘OK, let me follow in that path’. Whether it’s fighting or something positive, I’m like ‘let me try and do something positive as well’.”
Following in Leon’s footsteps, Edwards joined an MMA gym around the age of 20 and hasn’t looked back since.
“I thought ‘I’m gonna give it a go’. I joined the gym and I was getting battered by small dudes, and that’s what kind of drove me,” said Edwards.
“I was like ‘I shouldn’t be getting battered’ because I was the bigger dude, you know’, and I thought ‘let me stick to it’, and eventually I saw myself getting better and better and I stuck it out.
“I could always lean on [Leon] whenever I need to ask about weight cut, or ask ‘am I training this wrong?’ To have a brother with the fight IQ that he’s got is the reason why I got good so quick.
“He trusts me to be able to find motivation myself and to be able to push myself. That’s the type of brother he is – he’s laid back but gets on top of you when he needs to. But he hardly needs to get on top of me because I’m always in the gym training anyway.”
‘I’ll leave Paris with my hand raised’
Edwards set up the fight with Dutch fighter Mousasi after a unanimous decision win over Charlie Ward in October last year.
That followed an impressive knockout of former UFC champion Lyoto Machida last May.
Edwards is second in the Bellator middleweight rankings with a record yielding 11 victories and two defeats, which he has compiled in only six years.
Barring current champion Eblen, Mousasi, 37, is the only fighter ahead of Edwards in the rankings.
Former UFC star Mousasi has 49 wins and eight defeats over a 20-year career.
Despite Mousasi’s credentials, Edwards is confident of victory.
“His [Mousasi] main strength is he makes it uncomfortable for people. He walks forward, he’s in your face, he’s constantly in that range where you can’t switch off,” says Edwards.
“He’s an alright all-round fighter. He’s flat-footed, comes forward and tries to put you into boxing range and mix it up, but I don’t see him as the best technically.
“I either see me catching him clean and a TKO [technical knockout] finish or I see me out-wrestling, out-striking, clinching when I want, and then leaving Paris with my hand raised.”
Source – BBC Sport
Leave a Reply