LEON EDWARDS will undergo an insane body transformation just days ahead of his latest title defence.
The Brit will make the third defence of his welterweight title early on Sunday morning in the main event of UFC 304 in Manchester.
Edwards, 32, will look to continue his reign as the king of the welterweights in a rematch against Belal Muhammad, who he fought to a no contest nearly three-and-a-half years ago.
Before the pair can renew their rivalry, there is the small matter of making the championship weight of 170lbs.
And Edwards will have to cut an insane amount of weight – for your average person – to vie for his belt.
The pride of Birmingham entered fight week over a STONE above the 170lbs championship limit.
It was revealed Edwards has to lose 17lbs, which works out as just over 7.7kg, before Friday afternoon’s official weigh-ins.
Edwards won’t, however, be starving himself to make weight.
In fact, ‘Rocky’, will be eating enough meals to fill up a normal person and then some.
Edwards’ fight week diet will consist of a breakfast of a vegetarian chilli omelette with a healthy portion of avocado on the side.
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He’ll follow that up later with a snack of mixed berries and a protein shake, which will include three grams of creatine.
His second meal of the day will be a healthy serving of beautifully seared steak and avocado.
Edwards’ sweet tooth – which he revealed to SunSport – will then be satisfied by a small serving of coconut peanut butter with chocolate chips.
His third meal will be a tasty serving of lemon chicken thighs with yet another serving of avocado.
Edwards will be training every day during fight week, with his workouts being fuelled by a serving of jelly beans.
And he’ll close out the day with a tasty portion of two lemon-drizzled salmon fillets.
Edwards’ tried-and-tested diet – which is devised by his nutritionist Jordan Sullivan – allows him to safely lose just over 1kg of weight a day.
But Sullivan – who also works with Israel Adesanya and Alexander Volkanovski – insists the diet is not sustainable for prolonged weight loss for your average Joe.
He wrote on Instagram: “This is not a long-term, sustainable, approach to weight loss, quite the opposite.
“It is achieved through dehydrating his body of water by manipulating the food that he eats. How does that work?
“Well, our body is great at storing water in different areas, and the food we eat influences how much water we store at any one time.
“For example, carbohydrate-rich foods store water when they are stored in the liver and muscle.
“This creates an opportunity to release water (and therefore body weight) by changing the food the athlete eats.
“This strategy, among a few others is what allows elite-level fighters to drop over 10% of their body weight in just a matter of days.
“This is not a sustainable practice and it’s dangerous if done incorrectly.
“This is why fighters have specific plans for their individual body and it’s overseen by professionals.”
Edwards, of course, won’t go into his rematch with Muhammad bang on 170lbs.
He’ll put back on the water weight he loses this week during a carefully monitored rehydration process, which Sullivan will once again oversee.
