Ahead of his big comeback against Sean Brady this weekend at UFC Fight Night 254, former champion Leon Edwards took some time out to let fans in on a few secrets about his personal life. It turns out, Edwards isn’t just a beast inside the octagon; he’s got a surprisingly chill vibe when the gloves are off.
During a rapid-fire interview with UFC on TNT Sports, Edwards answered everything from who he thinks the UFC GOAT is to his phone wallpaper.
No corny motivational quotes or breathtaking landscape shots – instead, Edwards’ wallpaper is a simple, wholesome photo of his 11-year-old son, Jayon.
The conversation then quickly switched to his cooking skills—or lack thereof. The former welterweight champion admitted he’s not much of a cook, but does have an air fryer he likes to put to good use.
“I make some healthy food like Seabass with Rice,” he revealed. It’s not gourmet-level stuff, but hey, it gets the job done. Not sure, if his GOAT would agree with his famous Barbeque skills, but hey, if it works, it works.
And yes, you guessed it right, the former welterweight champion believes the Brazilian ‘Spider is the greatest of all time. ‘”For me, it’s Anderson Silva, but right now you have to say Jon Jones.”, he joked- a nod to the UFC’s fixation with the undisputed heavyweight champion.
Edwards might get a lot of schtick for not being a very charismatic person, but who needs that when you can butt-dial Usain Bolt and Stormzy? Yes, those are the two most famous people in his contact list.
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An interview like this might be becoming a run-of-the-mill PR process for UFC fighters but every now and then, you get someone like Leon and the honesty on display is just refreshing.
Edwards’ honest account of UFC 304 and the bossman
The last time Edwards fought in the octagon was at UFC 304 in Manchester, England. He put his welterweight title on the line against a surging Belal Muhammad in what was touted to be a highly competitive match-up.
However, on the day of the fight, reality and Belal both hit harder than Edwards had previously imagined. Belal dominated a gun-shy Edwards on the night, even outlanding him with striking exchanges before dropping him on his head. Despite a later surge from the then-champion, when the bell rang, everybody watching the fight knew Leon had lost his title.
However, if Leon is to be asked, and he has been, the Brit blames his performance on the bizarre timings of that particular PPV. To adjust the timings for a US audience, the UFC had scheduled the fights for really early in the morning, in fact, before the break of dawn. This meant, that Leon, along with other British fighters had to abruptly adjust their sleep cycles.
“I think I walked out at 5:00 a.m. It felt like someone woke me up and said, ‘Okay, go fight.’ You got to go and fight, you know what I mean? Then I got in there. But as I said, it is what it is.”, he told Ariel Helwani in an interview. It’s been a year since then but Leon doesn’t seem to have let it go.
And as far as the big boss Mr. White is concerned, old Jesse here didn’t have much to say. So he just smirked and went with, “Bald, Boss, Rich.”
Well, fair is fair. Those three words do describe the UFC boss to a dot.
