Bellator Belfast: Fabian Edwards on 'personal' quest before Aaron Jeffrey title eliminator

Fabian Edwards can pinpoint the exact moment it went wrong for him against Johnny Eblen.

In the second round of the pair's Bellator middleweight world title fight in Dublin in September, Britain's Edwards sliced Eblen with an elbow, opening up a gruesome cut above the American's right eye.

As the cut widened and the blood started to trickle down the champion's nose, Edwards, 30, made his mistake.

He thought Eblen was beaten, but he was wrong. Minutes later his team were helping him off the canvas after being knocked out by the 32-year-old.

"When I cut him, I'm looking at the cut and I'm thinking 'this fight's done' because it's such a big cut," Edwards tells BBC Sport.

"I'm defending the majority of the takedowns, I felt he was getting a bit tired, and the fight was going how I thought it was going to go. I was thinking 'right, I'm going to hurt you now', rather than flowing into it and just touching the cut.

"My mindset changed a bit and obviously his mindset changed because he's thinking 'I need to do something otherwise the fight is going to get stopped'. It was one of those moments of a wrong decision at the time."

While Edwards recalls the defeat he laughs jovially, indicating he has dealt with the chastening experience well.

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This is in contrast to how Edwards felt after his previous defeat by Austin Vanderford in 2021, where his confidence took a hit.

He feels differently this time because of his willingness to learn and extract positives from potentially negative experiences - he feels deep down, despite his loss to Eblen, he can beat him.

"People say he is the best middleweight in the world across all promotions. I feel like I went in there and displayed a lot of good things. I know at the end of the day I lost, but win or lose, you have to always take something out of it you can improve," said Edwards.

"I feel like if I was to make the right decision in that third round, I felt like I would have got better and he would have got worse. I know I can beat that guy."

On Friday at the Bellator Champions Series at the SSE Arena in Belfast, Edwards gets the chance to earn another shot at Eblen when he faces Canadian Aaron Jeffery in a number one contender fight.

"You know what, I'm excited. I'm not even feeling anxious or anything, I'm just excited to perform," said Edwards.

'Winning Bellator title is personal'

Edwards has won 12 of his 15 fights since turning professional in 2017

When the Professional Fighters League (PFL) acquired Bellator in November, inheriting its roster, it left many of the fighters with a key decision regarding the direction of their careers - join the PFL's league-based competition, or continue under the more traditional MMA matchmaking format in Bellator.

For Edwards, the decision was an easy one.

"I just knew I wasn't going to leave without achieving what I needed to achieve, and I haven't achieved that yet," said Edwards.

"Because it's a personal goal of mine - I've always said since I joined Bellator, I want to get that belt. And I believe I'm at that level to get it.

"I'm at that championship level. Obviously I lost my last fight but I just know with the right adjustments, I can get it."

In 31-year-old Jeffery, Edwards is facing a fighter who has won 14 of his 18 professional bouts, including four of his last five.

But Edwards is confident Jeffery poses no significant challenges compared to previous opponents he's faced.

"I always look at people's cornering and what they say, that gives me insight into what type of person he is," said Edwards.

"His corner is always like 'he's feeling the pressure, he's feeling the pace' - it's never technical, and you can tell he's that type of physical fighter.

"I look at that and I'm like 'OK cool,' we know the type of person we're dealing with and go from that."