DUBLIN – In a fight that’s been brewing for years, Fabian Edwards will finally get his hands on Mike Shipman.
Edwards (8-0 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) will take on Shipman (13-2 MMA, 4-1 BMMA) in a featured bout at Bellator Europe 6, set to take place at The SSE Arena, Wembley in London on Nov. 23.
Edwards, who was just two fights into his professional career when he began calling out Shipman, wasted no time in letting “Seabass” know how he really feels. On Wednesday, the two faced off for the first time, and “The Assassin” had an early message.
“I was just saying to him I’m going to ruin his face,” Edwards told MMA Junkie. “I mean, I was saying it in a nice, calm voice. I’m going to ruin his face.
“The fight should have happened a few years ago, a couple of years ago, you know what I mean? Back then, I was interested in the fight. Now I’m still interested, but I feel like I’m the A-side now, he’s the B-side. When he had the belt, he was someone. Now, he’s nothing to me, so I’m going to go out there, put that one to bed, show everyone that what I’ve been saying is true and move on to my title route.”
The undefeated Edwards will be taking on his toughest test to date, and he said he sees this fight as an opportunity to catapult himself into middleweight title contention.
“I think this one, the fans are going to tune in because like I said, it’s been a couple of years now that it’s been back-and-forth chat, so with my win over him, that’s going to boost me to the title shot, which is what I’m trying to go for,” Edwards said. “I’m not in here to play games and have a fight here and there. I’m here to take that belt, so I think this fight will be a good step in the right direction.”
But professional gain isn’t all that’s on the line for Edwards, he said, insisting this fight is personal following his lengthy pursuit of the clash. Now that it’s official, “The Assassin” said he intends on putting a real beating on Shipman.
“This is the first fight that I’ve had where, as bad as it sounds, but I’m actually trying to hurt him,” Edwards said. “All my other opponents, I’ve been pretty calm, and I’ve still done damage to them, so me with this fire in my belly fighting him, I’m going to re-arrange his whole entire face. I’ll take out the rest of those teeth. He’s only got a few left in his mouth anyway, so I’m trying to take them out, and that’s it.”
With six stoppages in his eight pro wins, Edwards is looking to add another finish to his resume, and he said he plans on going right at Shipman as soon as the bell sounds.
“I’m going to go forward, and I can see the finish coming; it’ll either be end of the first, or mid-second,” Edwards said. “Mid-second because he’s just sloppy. Like we watch him, there’s a lot of things that are amateur, a lot of things that I don’t respect. I’m going to go forward and put it on him straight away, as soon as the ref says go.”
To hear more from Edwards, check out the video above
