Fabian Edwards sends 'break his face' warning to Johnny Eblen ahead of rematch

Fabian Edwards has warned Johnny Eblen he plans to leave no doubt in their title rematch.

Eblen stopped Edwards 13 months ago to defend his Bellator middleweight title and the rivals will lock horns again this weekend in a supporting role to Francis Ngannou's MMA return against Renan Ferreira. And Edwards, whose brother is star Leon, has promised not to make the same mistakes in the sequel.

"The fact it's been a year since we last fought, it feels right," he said. Some people have said it's too soon but for me it feels right. One fight doesn't mean thats how all our fights will play out; I look at it as a new fight but I've felt him before. I'll get my hand raised by any means, I feel I was beating him in the last fight, there were no areas he was outclassing me. You get caught sometimes and that's what happened.

"It wasn't like he brought his level up, it was my positioning. It wasn't a position I should have been in, it was a technical error on my part and that's how I look at it. If you go in there with someone and they batter you form the start to the finish then you can say you need a few more years because you're not close to his level. But in my eyes I won the first two rounds and made a mistake. I can't class him as the better man. I know that sounds mad but Saturday night will show I'm the better man."

Edwards and Eblen clashed in the cage after their first meeting - but the Brit insists there is no lingering bad blood. "There's a beef with everyone I fight but he's worked hard, I've worked hard and no one wants to get beat," he added. "I don't hate him, I realised that last week. I've worked so hard for this so I just want what I've worked for and he's got it.

"I've matured over the last year. I don't hate him, I feel like I used to hate everyone but I'm a fighter and my job is to go in there and break his face. It sounds violent but that's the sport we're in and on Saturday night I'll try my very best to break his face."