[autotag]Michael Bisping[/autotag] disagrees with [autotag]Leon Edwards[/autotag] on what it’s like to fight in the middle of the night.
Edwards (22-4 MMA, 14-3 UFC) lost his welterweight title to Belal Muhammad at UFC 304 in July, which took place in Manchester, England in U.S. prime time. Edwards cited fighting in the middle of the night as the reason why he performed lethargically, but Bisping can’t relate.
Bisping experienced fighting late himself when he retained his middleweight title in a thriller against Dan Henderson at UFC 204. Unlike Edwards, Bisping admits fighting at an odd timing did not impact his performance.
“I can’t speak for Leon and what he was feeling at that time,” Bisping told Bloody Elbow. “However, I do have a very different opinion, and that’s why I hesitate to say it because I’m not trying to dismiss his feelings or whatever, but I’m of the mindset that regardless of what time of day it is, when you’re walking out to an arena, and there’s 20,000 people, and you’ve been training for two months, the adrenaline kicks in, and you’re not really going to feel tired.
“However, he did say that he was a little bit off and he felt a step behind, stuff like that, and that does happen. I think maybe he’s perceiving that to be because it was the middle of the night. That’s an obvious conclusion to come to. It’s like, ‘Well, why wasn’t I firing on all cylinders? Ah, well, it was at 5 o’clock in the morning.'”
Edwards will look to rebound when he meets Sean Brady (17-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 255 (ESPN+) main event at The O2 in London. Bisping expects a better version of Edwards now that he’ll be fighting at a regular timing.
“I think sometimes you just have a bad night at the office,” Bisping said. “Of course, Belal Muhammad was fantastic, he brought his ‘A’ game, and Leon had maybe not his best night. You put it all together and I understand why he would come to that conclusion. Fortunately, this is at prime time in the U.K., so Leon is going to be good. Hhe’s going to be firing on all cylinders, and I can’t wait for it.”
[lawrence-related id=2811630,2811549,2807967,2811860]
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 255.