Leon Edwards’ coach wants a date with Ian Machado Garry.
This past Saturday, Edwards lost his welterweight title, losing a unanimous decision to Belal Muhammad in the main event of UFC 304. Following the fight, Edwards said he wasn’t surprised and that his body felt tired all week, and speaking with Submission Radio recently, his coach Dave Lovell revealed that Edwards’ training camp was not all smiles.
“A lot of people don’t know this, and I’m not making any kind of excuses for him, but we had a few niggles in camp,” Lovell said. “His back was niggling him, so he couldn’t wrestle the way he needed to, offensively and defensively, because of the niggle that recurred maybe two or three times. But not taking nothing away from Belal’s performance. He did well. The best man won on the night and Leon will be back.”
The loss was the first for Edwards since 2015, snapping a 13-fight unbeaten streak for “Rocky” but now drops him from title contention, at least in the immediate future. UFC CEO Dana White said after the event that the promotion will not run back an immediate rematch between Muhammad and Edwards, which leaves Lovell and the rest of Edwards’ team looking at what comes next.
“I can understand Dana saying that,” Lovell said. “He wants to see a bit more excitement. But as for the next opponent for Leon, Tim [Simpson, Edwards’s manager] said he was going to throw a few names out there, maybe a Shavkat [Rakhmonov] or Ian Garry. We’ll see what we get back.
“Obviously Leon’s got to get himself back in contention to fight for the title. Being a three-time defending champion, I think if he gets one, maybe two wins with a few up-and-coming guns, or one that’s in the top-five, I think Leon could get to fight Belal maybe not 2025, but maybe 2026, god willing.”
As for which opponent will get him there, Lovell is partial to Garry. “The Future” previously trained at Edwards’ gym, Team Renegade, before being kicked out of the gym. Garry maintains he was booted due to jealousy, while Edwards says Garry was not a culture fit at the gym. So given their history, Lovell would like to see the two men settle up.
“I would like to see Leon fight Ian Garry,” Lovell said. “Obviously we can keep it British based, either Ireland or over here. Obviously there’s the little background story we had going back last year. He’s looking for a scalp, now that Leon’s not champ he may think it is a good scalp for him to get to march on to get a championship belt or a title shot.
“For Leon, if Leon beats him, that then puts him at the back of the queue. And then maybe if they want one more before he fights Belal — if Belal has still got the belt — that will be the future move, the future plan.”
After UFC 304, Edwards said he would like to return before the end of the year if possible, which could line up with Garry’s timeline as “The Future” last competed at UFC 303 in June. And if this matchup does actually come to pass, Lovell believes his charge will put himself right back into title talk.
“Leon would, I believe, beat him with the simple fact of fight experience,” Lovell said. “He’s a good lad, he’s got good skills, but we know because we’ve seen some — when he was at our gym, don’t just think he came to the gym and it was a boogie ride for him. He was getting tapped out... He came to Renegade, he was amongst us, he was getting tapped out while he was learning.
“Yeah, you know, Ian Garry is a name that will put Leon back on track. I think so anyway.”
