The elder sibling lost his welterweight world title to Belal Muhammad at UFC 304 before Fabian’s second effort at Bellator gold against Johnny Eblen in Saudi Arabia was unsuccessful. Then in the UFC London main event last month, Leon was stopped for the first time in the UFC as Sean Brady submitted him.

Fabian Edwards is fighting for family legacy in PFL World Tournament

Now, Fabian Edwards has the chance to land one of the biggest scalps on his record against 2023 PFL champion Impa Kasanganay. And he understands that his family’s famous fighting name is on the line after a difficult year of action for he and his brother.

“Definitely,” he replied when Bloody Elbow asked if he was fighting for the dynasty. “Someone like Impa, it’s unfortunate that it’s him because he seems like a nice lad. But I’m going to hit him with every single part of my body, every limb I’ve got is going to connect with him.

“I’m going to show that we’re still there, we are still two of the best brothers in the world. We have to show it… It’s all built up and it has to come out somewhere, I can’t wait to just get out there and be free, just do what I know I can do.”

Fabian Edwards could face his greatest rival in PFL semi-finals

Back in 2019, one of the hottest feuds in British MMA saw Fabian Edwards and Mike Shipman battle outside of the cage and in it, with their Bellator meeting going the distance. Edwards won a razor-close and quite controversial split decision, with many feeling the rivalry was never truly settld.

Should the fates allow, they may be on for a rematch Stateside this summer, with Shipman taking on 2023 finalist Josh Silveira. The American is also in pursuit of a rematch, having lost twice to Impa Kasanganay in the past two seasons.

“It would be funny, imagine that,” Edwards laughed. “F— it, I’ll take him out. That would be a good matchup, but I’ll f—ing destroy him now. That was a fun build-up, I was young and a bit more wild back then.

“I don’t know what it would be like these days because I’m older now. But back then, I would have got him outside the cage. It was probably f— all, nothing really but thats’ just how it was!”

Garry is a divisive figure with fans but undeniably one of the top talents in the welterweight division. And asked for who he feels is his toughest test at the weight, he gave a controversial and unexpected choice.

Ian Machado Garry believes Islam Makhachev is toughest test at welterweight

There are a number of serious contenders at 170lb, from Sean Brady to the unbeaten-in-the-UFC Jack Della Maddalena. That’s not to mention the champion Belal Muhammad, who has looked unbeatable in recent years.

But when asked for who he feels poses the biggest threat in the division, Ian Machado Garry believed that he has yet to even debut. He named the long-time lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, who has already broken the record for most defences ever at 155lb.

“He’s not in the welterweight division yet but he will be soon and if he comes up it’ll be Islam,” Garry told SevereMMA. “When he comes up he will be the biggest problem.”

Ian Machado Garry believes he deserved next UFC title shot

When it was confirmed that an injury, likely caused by Garry, had forced Shavkat Rakhmonov out of the UFC 315 main event with Belal Muhammad, fans were surprised to see the Irishman overlooked. Instead, they went for Maddalena, who hasn’t lost since his first two professional fights nine years ago.

He is annoyed with the decision, noting that his sole career defeat was by a matter of points to the division’s top contender. “When they told me this news, I was livid. Still am to this day,” Machado Garry said on Instagram.

“I’m not fighting for a world title because I’m coming off a loss and they’re giving it to a guy who’s been injured for a year. And they think that’s more exciting, but they’re wrong.

“Now they’re pulling in a guy who hasn’t fought in a year because he’s had an operation on his forearm because he broke it in his last fight, hasn’t fought in a long time, hasn’t been active.”

Hall has fought before; a boxing match with Hafthor Bjornsson which he lost by decision and a 2v1 MMA ‘Freak Fight’ where he knocked out two brothers at once. However, next week’s fight is his first legitimate contest in the sport of MMA after about two years of training.

Eddie Hall’s carnivore diet is helping him to lose weight for MMA debut

In an effort to get in peak fighting shape, Eddie Hall has had a very specific diet. He is foregoing vegetables and sticking to meat, eggs and dairy in the ‘carnivore diet’ which has proven divisive with some users.

However, he has begun the drop from 170kg, or around 374lb, and expects to fight at 155kg, or 341lb. Speaking exclusively with Bloody Elbow ahead of the bout, he explained: “I just eat nothing but meat eggs and dairy on the carnivore diet for this fight prep.

“It’s been a pretty good diet, helped me to maintain all of my muscle mass and I’ve dropped body fat. My energy levels are through the roof, my endurance is insane so that’s pretty much been the diet.

“I’ve not restricted what I eat at all, I just eat meat, eggs and dairy and as much of it as I want. The body fat’s come off. When I started the prep I was 170kg and I’m down to 158kg. I might even lose a bit more and be strict, that would get me to fighting at around 155-156kg.

“I feel good and the main thing about it is that with my training it’s not about the weight but how fit I am. Am I doing these four minute rounds and being able to recover within 90 seconds to go again? At the minute, I can say yes. I’ve got no intention to lose too much weight because the cardio is there.”

Eddie Hall believes in maintaining size and power for fighting

The general consensus when it comes to moving from a sport like strongman to boxing or MMA is to lose a massive amount of weight for the sake of cardio. Hafthor Bjornsson shed over 110lb to face Hall, and looked a different man from their fighting days when they fought each other.

While Hall is considerably lighter than the 434lb he was when he lifted over 1100lb in a stunning show of strength, he still maintains considerable size. At 6’2″ he is quite short for a strongman, and maintains huge amounts of muscle mass even at 341lb.

“I’m strong and I’m a big believer that taking that into MMA makes you more dangerous,” he explained. “Mariusz proved that point when he first came into MMA and fought around 140kg, his size and strength; people were just s— scared of him.

“I’ve never heard a fighter come out of a fight and say ‘I wish I was weaker for that fight’. Never heard that, as long as you’re fit enough be as fit as you can be.”

However, there’s one ex-champion whose peak came years prior who Rogan believes might have been the man to end Nurmagomedov’s winning run. The pair were in the UFC at the same time, but by the time this legend was finished at the top level, the Russian was still on the climb.

Joe Rogan believes BJ Penn could have been the man to beat Khabib Nurmagomedov

Joe Rogan was on the call for a huge chunk of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s legendary career, and watched from cageside as he dominated some of the greatest of all time. He has always maintained the Russian’s greatness, and feels he is one of the best of all time in the sport.

However, he believes that had Khabib been forced to run into a prime BJ Penn during his days as world champion, there might have been a chance he was found out.

“During that run when BJ Penn beat up Diego and f—ed up Sean Sherk and Joe Stevenson, when he did that? That BJ Penn might be the baddest motherf—er alive,” Rogan said on the latest episode of his podcast with comedian Deric Poston.

“I would have liked to see that BJ Penn vs Khabib. That would have been f—ing crazy, and a lot of people think that is a ridiculous thing to say because Khabib was so dominant and BJ lost a bunch of times.

“I’m like ‘you’re right, an argument I accept’. He might not have beat him. Khabib might have taken him down and mauled him the same way Georges St-Pierre did, he might have; Khabib is a big guy especially for lightweight and his grappling skills are unparalleled.

“Khabib grapples and does fantastic with elite, world championship calibre amateur wrestlers. I’ve heard stories of him dominating guys in the gym who are elite wrestlers, that’s how good Khabib is and he might have been able to do that to BJ Penn. But BJ Penn might have got him too.”

Joe Rogan believes BJ Penn had potential to be UFC’s greatest of all time

Joe Rogan watched the rise, and fall, of BJ Penn’s career from cageside as the voice of the octagon for years. He believes that Hawaiian had potential to be the sport’s greatest ever, particularly when he was at his peak physical condition.

“He was training with the Marinoviches and he had an unstoppable gas tank,” Rogan continued. “He went and trained with Marv Marinovich this maniacal football coach with these radical training methods.

“All you did was strength and conditioning because you know how to fight, stop all this fight training. We’re just going to get you in the most insane shape possible. When they did that BJ Penn was unstoppable.

“If somebody could have corralled him, got him to stay with that guy then only train that way when he had world title fights, never f— off? Who knows, he could have been the GOAT.”

Paul, 28, won’t have nearly as many eyes on his upcoming boxing match this summer.

Jake Paul to box former WBC Champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

According to a report from The Ring Magazine, Jake Paul is set to take on another former boxing champion in Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. at cruiserweight.

Chavez Jr. (54-6-1) is the former WBC Middleweight Champion, having held the world title from 2011 to 2012. Chavez is Paul’s most experienced opponent to date. In 2017, he went the championship distance with Canelo Alvarez – the pay-per-view superstar Paul recently missed out on.

Chavez is the son of the legendary Julio Cesar Chavez, a six-time world champion considered to be the greatest Mexican boxer of all time.

As of this writing, a location and date has yet to be announced for Paul vs. Chavez Jr.

The boxing match will NOT be streamed on Netflix.

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is 1-1 against ex-UFC fighters

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. called out Paul last summer following his decision win over former UFC Middleweight contender Uriah Hall on his undercard.

It wasn’t the best performance by any means, Hall entering the contest as an inexperienced 1-0 boxer and the slightly older fighter.

Paul and Chavez Jr. share a common opponent in UFC legend Anderson Silva.

Chavez Jr. was Silva’s first post-UFC fight and his first boxing match in 16 years. Silva had lost to Hall in his MMA retirement fight but rallied to an impressive split decision victory over Chavez Jr. in his return to the ring in 2021.

Former middleweight champ Silva is one of five UFC veterans Jake Paul has a win over.

After knocking out former world champions Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley, Paul knocked down a 47-year-old Silva to win by unanimous decision in 2022.

The following year, Paul’s first boxing defeat came in his next fight against Tommy Fury where the social media sensation lost by split decision.

Jake Paul has stayed in the win column ever since.

Having seen just about it all in MMA, Rogan isn’t short on ideas when it comes to changing the established UFC format and enforcing the rules.

“There’s many times I wish I was running the UFC,” Rogan said on his podcast.

“I would change so many different things….”

Joe Rogan would take out the cage, replace it with basketball court

The coveted UFC ‘Octagon’ was first introduced in 1993 after a few different concepts were presented, including a platform with barbed wire and a circular ring with fencing.

Rogan has a completely different idea for a fight enclosure, one that doesn’t include the caged walls of the Octagon.

“I got some wacky ideas,” said Rogan.

“I don’t even think they should fight in a cage. I think the cage is an unnecessary element in fighting. To push someone against something or to be able to get up from something. I don’t think it’s necessary.

“I think it should be in like a basketball court,” Rogan proposed.

“Like a basketball court that’s matted up. Have a big space. Have a warning track where if you go outside the warning track too many times, you could lose points.”

Joe Rogan suggests ‘no standups ever’ as rule change

Besides where the fight takes place, Rogan also suggested a new rule change that wrestlers would go crazy for.

Instead of every round starting on the feet…

“When someone takes you down, you have to actually get up,” the UFC commentator explained.

“I think at the end of a round, say if you got a guy mounted at the end of the round, you start the next round mounted on him.

“Because why would you give him the advantage of getting up when he never got up?

“You have to earn a get up. You have to stand up by yourself. No standups ever,” Rogan said.

Often times in MMA, referee will take away certain positions on the ground due to inactivity and reset the fighters on the feet. Rogan’s rule idea would eliminate that entirely.

“Unless someone commits a foul,” Rogan cleared up. “If the guy’s at the bottom and he commits a foul… Take a point away, put him right back in the same spot.”

Jones locked in his first heavyweight title defense last November at UFC 309 where he sent former champion Stipe Miocic into retirement with a spinning back kick to the body.

Jones could soon join Miocic in retirement, that is, if he doesn’t unify the title against interim champion Tom Aspinall first.

Fans have been clamoring for the heavyweight super-fight between Jones and Aspinall for well over 500 days now, leaving many to wonder whether Jones will accept the challenge from the younger, hungrier champion.

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Vitor Belfort hopes Jon Jones retires ‘undefeated’

Jones the obvious A-side with all of his accolades, former UFC Champion Vitor Belfort advises his former rival to walk away from Aspinall while he still can.

“He doesn’t need to prove nothing to no one,” Belfort said of Jones in an interview with Helen Yee.

“He’s always someone who wants to prove [I can beat this guy].

“I would like to see him to walk away the way he is. I don’t wanna see him losing the fight. Some people wanna see him losing the fight. I wanna see Jon walk away undefeated.”

Technically, Jones isn’t undefeated with his only loss in 30 pro fights a disqualification to Matt Hamill in 2009 for illegal 12-6 elbows (which are now legal under the new unified rules).

Vitor Belfort says ‘prime’ Tom Aspinall too risky for Jon Jones

Very few fighters have come close to really beating Jon Jones… Dominick Reyes, Alexander Gustafsson, Thiago Santos in controversial decisions and of course, Vitor Belfort who nearly submitted ‘Bones’ with an armbar in their fight at UFC 152 in 2012.

His arm hyperextended, Jones refused to tap before he eventually found his way out and later submitted Belfort himself with a keylock.

While Jones has cleared generations of light heavyweights in the past, Vitor Belfort is worried his former rival has finally met his match with the future of the heavyweight division.

The #1-ranked Aspinall is almost six years younger than Jones, carrying explosive KO power and speed which has left many contenders unconscious on the canvas. Aspinall has 100% takedown defense and takedown accuracy and averages 8.07 strikes per minute, the second-highest rate in the UFC today.

Aspinall has the shortest average fight time at 2:02.

“Aspinall’s a risk fight for him,” Belfort said.

“Aspinall would be great to see, but, I mean, that guy is too young. He’s in his prime. It’s a risk fight for him. I don’t recommend that fight for him.

“I just wanna see [Jones] do some fun fights. I think you did everything you could,” Belfort said of Jon Jones’ UFC legacy.

With or without Tom Aspinall, Jon Jones has already cemented himself as the greatest, if not one of the greatest fighters of all time.

The 15-1 Garry is coming off his first career loss, dropping a decision in his last fight against Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310. Despite the road bump, the Irishman is still as brash as they come, promising to ‘outclass’ Prates on fight night.

Ahead of UFC Kansas City on Apr. 26, Machado Garry took multiple shots at his opponent across social media, labeling him a ‘quitter’ and ‘not a fighter’ for retreating in a TKO loss back in 2017.

Carlos Prates claps back at Ian Machado Garry in new video

Prates is 14-1 since ‘quitting’ in the fight Machado Garry had mentioned, the Brazilian adding more wrinkles to his game with ‘The Fighting Nerds’ team.

Known more for his KO power than his trash-talking, Prates issued a fiery response to Garry’s comments in between rounds at the gym.

“We are here training while Ian Garry is on the Internet talking s***,” Prates said in a video posted to his Instagram.

“You have a lot of free time. I’m here training.

“April 26, I’m gonna punch him in the mouth. Then, he’ll keep saying he didn’t have time to train… Who was on the Internet talking s***? A-hole.

“People who talk too much end up badly,” Prates wrote of Machado Garry in Portuguese.

Ian Machado Garry’s past mental warfare

If you know Ian Machado Garry, you know he likes to get into the head of his opponents before they even share the Octagon with him.

In the lead-up to his previous fights, Machado Garry implied Neil Magny was a child abuser for insisting he was going to give the Irishman a ‘father-like’ beating.

Before his fight with Geoff Neal, Machado Garry trolled the contender by wearing a t-shirt with his mugshot on it.

At the UFC 303 press conference last summer, Ian Machado Garry accused Michael ‘Venom’ Page of sending someone to spy on him during training camp.

The war of words between welterweights Machado Garry and Prates will come to a screeching halt at UFC Kansas City on Apr. 26.

Only 33 years old, it seems that competition has caught up to Leon Edwards with Brady dominating him from bell-to-bell for his first submission loss.

UFC Kansas City headliner, #7-ranked welterweight Ian Machado Garry had his eyes on fighting the Brit for a while but now he isn’t so sure he sticks around.

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Ian Machado Garry thinks Leon Edwards has fought his final fight

Following back-to-back losses, Machado Garry seriously doubts Edwards fights again in a division filled with rising contenders such as Shavkat Rakhmonov, Jack Della Maddalena, Joaquin Buckley and Carlos Prates, Garry’s next opponent on Apr. 26.

“I think Leon’s gone down the swany now,” Garry said when asked if he’ll ever fight Edwards in an interview with Sky Sports.

“I think he’s gonna get absolutely chewed up and eaten up by fighters.

“I think the fight’s gone on the bloke. I don’t think he wants to fight anymore,” Garry added.

“I’d be very surprised if you see him in the Octagon again.”

Edwards currently holds down the #3 spot in the UFC welterweight rankings, maintaining he’s ‘still him’ after a string of losses.

Ian Machado Garry on Leon Edwards: ‘When the going gets tough, he quits’

‘Rocky’ conquered much adversity to win the UFC welterweight title in 2022, going on a 10-fight tear before pulling off a comeback headkick KO of pound-for-pound king Kamaru Usman at UFC 278.

Usman was a minute away from defeating Edwards in a dominant decision with Belal Muhammad finishing what he started at UFC 304 last July, taking the crown by executing a similar gameplan.

In the interview, Garry was asked what he thinks of the narrative that Edwards isn’t a ‘real fighter’ for not handling adversity well.

“Belal said it. Belal did it,” Garry continued.

“Kamaru Usman said it. Kamaru Usman did it as well at one point and Sean Brady did the same.

“They brought it to him, and he had no responses. When the going gets tough, he quits,” Garry said of Edwards.

The division is currently at a stand still with fans not knowing what will be next for Islam Makhachev with Topuria expecting him to go up to welterweight.

There are other big fights for the division’s new arrival but ‘La Leyenda’ isn’t interested in anything that doesn’t involve the gold even if he hopes to share the Octagon with a rival of his in the near future.

Topuria has one eye on Paddy Pimblett following his big win at UFC 314 but another lightweight contender doesn’t see the undefeated star making a seamless transition up to 155-pounds if he goes right in against the current champion.

Mateusz Gamrot says that Ilia Topuria is too small to be a serious threat to Islam Makhachev

Though the chances of seeing it take place look relatively unlikely right now due to both sides having very different stances on the fight, Ilia Topuria facing Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title is one of the biggest matchups possible right now.

The challenger being happy to wait isn’t going to change the fact that the likes of Khabib Nurmagomedov believe that Topuria needs a win over a big name before he fights the champion.

Mateusz Gamrot predicts that even if everything does fall into place for ‘La Leyenda’ in the coming months, his undefeated run will come to an end against the pound-for-pound number one.

In a recent interview with MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn, Gamrot gave his thoughts on the matchup and how he sees this huge clash playing out if it does materialize.

Surprisingly, the #7-ranked contender believes that Topuria is deserving of a lightweight title shot after he vacated his belt to move up to 155-pounds.

Whilst the 28-year-old might be worthy of taking on the champion, Gamrot doesn’t believe that the fight would end up being competitive for the simple fact that Topuria is too small to challenge Makhachev.

We have seen him compete at lightweight inside the Octagon once before but it remains to be seen whether size will play a factor when he’s facing the best that the division has to offer.

“For me, interesting fight but I don’t know. Topuria is a small guy. Islam is a really big guy and I don’t think that Topuria has a chance against him, you know. If you want to fight with Islam, you have to be a big guy, similar like him, because he’s good everywhere but if your body is smaller than his, you don’t have a chance for sure.”

Alexander Volkanovski gave Islam Makhachev a very tough fight at UFC 284 despite the size difference

In his first defense of the lightweight title at UFC 284, Islam Makhachev won a hard fought decision over Alexander Volkanovski in a classic fight.

‘The Great’ certainly gave the defending champion a run for his money after moving up from featherweight, standing at 5’6” compared to Makhachev at 5’10” according to UFC Stats.

MMA maths doesn’t always work and Volkanovski is known for being excellent at utilizing his long arms and distance control to make up for his height but Ilia Topuria is an inch taller than his former opponent.

We don’t know how Topuria will adjust to the lightweight division but he seems to be confident that this weight class will bring the best out of him now that he doesn’t have to put his body through a difficult weight cut.