Bellator middleweight champion Johnny Eblen had a heated moment with UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards, but the beef has quickly subsided.
In the main event of Bellator 299, Eblen put his gold on the line against “Rocky’s” brother Fabian Edwards. Eblen scored a third-round KO win, and things got heated afterwards. At one point, Eblen and Leon Edwards exchanged some words.
Johnny Eblen & Leon Edwards Quickly End Beef
During the Bellator 299 post-fight press conference, Johnny Eblen reflected on the heated moment with Leon Edwards. While Eblen says cooler heads prevailed, he still would like to go one-on-one with “Rocky” someday (h/t MMAJunkie).
“A lot of emotions, bro.” Eblen told reporters during a post-fight news conference. “His brother is a great fighter. I honestly hope he beats Colby (Covington). I f*cking hate Colby. That dude sucks. But yeah, I want to fight him, too.
“He’s one of the best guys in the world, and I want to prove I’m one of the best in the world. You have to fight everybody. He’s not in my weight class, but he might go up to 185 eventually. But I went over after and said, ‘Sorry, my emotions were high.’ I squashed the beef. I don’t have anything wrong with him. I just want to fight the guy.”
As far as the win over Fabian goes, Eblen said he believes he had a slow start but he always felt he had the striking advantage. He gave Fabian credit for being “crafty” with getting back up to his feet and conserving energy while defending takedowns. He believes Fabian was getting slower as the fight got deeper.
There are some experts who believe that Eblen is the best middleweight in all of MMA. It’ll be interesting to see what’s next for him with all the rumors swirling around Bellator’s future.
