Leon Edwards made sure fight night would be an appropriate time before accepting a homecoming bout in London.
Edwards travels to the capital on Tuesday ahead of his main event clash against American Sean Brady in the main event of UFC London this weekend.
It is the first time Edwards will have fought in the Octagon since losing the welterweight title to Belal Muhammad, the current champion, at UFC Manchester in July.
The 33-year-old headlined a stacked UFC 304 cardcthat also featured Brits Tom Aspinall and Paddy Pimblett, who claimed victories over Curtis Blaydes and King Green respectively.
However, after witnessing both men win on the main card, the Manchester crowd – those who were still awake – were shocked as Edwards fell to a unanimous decision defeat at the hands of Muhammad.
The entire card was on an American time schedule, meaning Edwards did not make his Octagon walk until the early hours of that Sunday morning in July.
“Never again,” Birmingham’s Edwards told Ariel Helwani ahead of UFC London when asked about the timings for this weekend.
“The first thing [the UFC] said to me was: ‘We’re coming back to the UK in March.’ I was like: ‘OK, what time are we fighting first?’
“They said: ‘Normal time,’ so I was like: ‘Perfect, let’s do it.’”
Edwards added that he attributes ‘a lot’ of his sluggish performance at UFC Manchester to the time at which the bout took place.
“That 4am/5am walkout was madness,” he said. “I tried my best to get into it, but I just couldn’t.
“I just feel like my reactions were slow. I could think in my head what I wanted to do and what I trained to do.
“But for some reason, my body and mind just weren’t in sync as it normally is in fights.
“I walked out at like 5am. It felt like that would warm me up and let me know: ‘You’ve to fight now!’
“Even though he got the win, it was still a close fight on my worst day. He won three rounds, I ran two rounds…Even on my worst day it was still close.”
Edwards has claimed the UFC have informed him that the winner of his fight with Brady will challenge for the welterweight title next.
Brady has lost just once in the UFC since making his debut in 2019, and that defeat came to current champion Muhammad.
Muhammad defends his belt for the first time at UFC 315 in May against Jack Della Maddalena, who was originally meant to fight Edwards in London.
However, following news that No.1 welterweight contender Shavkat Rakhmonov was injured, Della Maddalena was called upon to replace the Kazakhstan man.
Edwards asserted that he asked the UFC to put him in against Muhammad, but MMA’s biggest league were reluctant to move him from the London card due to the absence of other big British stars, like Aspinall and Pimblett.
His defeat to Muhammad was his first in eight years and 13 fights since Kamaru Usman beat him in their first meeting back in 2015.
Usman was the man who Edwards then knocked out in a full circle moment at UFC 279 in August 2022 to claim gold in Dana White’s promotion for the first time.
He then defended it again in a rematch with the Nigerian seven months later before doing the same against Colby Covington at UFC 296 in December 2023 and eventually losing it to Muhammad.
Edwards is backing Muhammad to lose his welterweight title at UFC 315 in Canada to Della Maddalena, who the Birmingham native will likely face should he win in London this weekend.
He insisted that a title fight is the only fight that makes sense after victory at UFC London.
“Especially with the performance I’m going to put on, 100 per cent,” Edwards added.
“I’m going in there to hurt him. It’s not just about Sean, it’s about what I need to put right in my head… I’m going in there to take him out.”
UFC London also sees the return of Liverpudlian Molly McCann, while Brits Mick Parkin, Lone’er Kavanagh, Jai Herbert, Nathaniel Wood, Jordan Vucenic and Chris Duncan all feature on the card.
