Leon Edwards has been told he needs to abandon his cautious fighting style and adopt a more aggressive approach in his crucial upcoming fight against Sean Brady.
Edwards` return to the octagon is the main event at UFC Fight Night 255 in London`s O2 Arena tomorrow night.
Edwards, 33, is aiming to bounce back into the win column against submission expert Sean Brady. This will be his first fight since losing his welterweight title to Belal Muhammad last July.
Edwards` defeat partly occurred because he allowed Muhammad to dictate the pace and fight against the cage. This tactic had previously worked well in his third fight with Kamaru Usman and his victory over Colby Covington.
However, Michael Bisping, former middleweight champion and UFC commentator, believes Edwards needs to change his strategy to defeat the relentless Brady.
Bisping stated, “Leon tends to back up against the fence.”
“But he needs to avoid that in this fight and move forward.”
“He must put Brady on the defensive. He needs to attack him, land strikes, and earn Brady`s respect.”
“He has to make Sean Brady question himself by hitting him hard.”
“He needs to hurt Brady. We saw in his title victory over Usman that he is capable of finishing fights when necessary.”
Bisping understands the mindset Edwards will have entering the fight with Brady.
He immediately returned to fighting just 21 days after losing his middleweight title to Georges St-Pierre at UFC 217 in November 2017.
Bisping hopes the pressure of potentially losing his title aspirations on his home turf will push Edwards to abandon his recently cautious approach.
Britain`s first UFC titleholder said, “Regarding his mindset, he needs to be aggressive.”
“He must move forward and try to put Brady on the back foot.”
“When you are champion, I think he fell into the trap of fighting not to lose.”
“You have to be aggressive, move forward, hurt Sean Brady, and put him on the defensive.”
Regarding Edwards facing another grappler, Bisping says, “It`s business as usual for Leon.”
“He has fought and defeated that style throughout his career. Opponents are always trying to take him down.”
“So, he just carries over all the hard work from his previous training camps into this one and hopefully gets the job done.”
