When Leon Edwards hooked up with an surprising head kick on Kamaru Usman overdue of their August 2022 struggle to grow to be UFC welterweight champion, one of the vital Edwards cornermen recalls a kick back working thru his frame at cageside as he set free a “Wow!”

That response used to be shared by way of a lot of the MMA global, from chills to exclamations. It used to be, upcoming all, a stunner of a knockout, coming with lower than a little left at the clock in a struggle Edwards have been dropping.

However nobody else looking at the name struggle that evening may just relate to the cornerman’s 2nd response to the yellowish age.

“Now it’s my turn,” Fabian Edwards, more youthful brother and coaching spouse of Leon, recalls pondering as he celebrated with their staff.

Any mum or dad will inform you that if one in every of your youngsters will get one thing, their modest sibling will need one too. From tots to juice grounds, it additionally applies to grown-up blended martial artists and championship belts.

For years, the Edwards brothers had spoken quietly with each and every alternative about their shared dream of changing into global champions. That evening, 13 months in the past, Leon reached his purpose. His brother learned within the age of society glory that the remainder used to be as much as him.

This Saturday, 30-year-old Fabian Edwards has his alternative so as to add a 2nd championship belt to the Edwards’ society trophy case when he demanding situations Bellator middleweight champ Johnny Eblen in the principle match of Bellator 299 in Dublin (4 p.m. ET major card on Showtime).

“It feels kind of surreal, a pinch-yourself moment,” Fabian informed ESPN on Wednesday. “Leon and I have put in a lot of hours of work to finally get here. It feels like the right moment at the right time.”

Edwards is fast to show that merely making it to a name bout does no longer propel one to the promised land. There’s nonetheless paintings to do. However by way of witnessing his brother reaching his dream, Fabian skilled a surge of self belief in his personal week.

The upswing in self-assuredness has proven in Edwards’ two fights for the reason that evening his brother received gold, particularly in Fabian’s victory in Might over former champ Gegard Mousasi, which earned him this name shot. The trade in standpoint has additionally been seen day-to-day within the coaching gymnasium.

“Yeah, a hundred percent, mate, I’ve seen a change in Fabian,” stated Dave Lovell, who trains the Edwards brothers at Crew Renegade BJJ in Birmingham, England. “He always has trained hard, but imagine him being there when Leon won the world title, witnessing that, seeing what’s possible. I sometimes have to hold him back now, to keep him from overdoing it in the gym.”

For Fabian, running to the max within the gymnasium appears like a need, making an allowance for what he’s up in opposition to past upcoming past. “I train with the best in the world,” he stated. “Leon and I put in a lot of great rounds of training and sparring together. He gives me problems sometimes, and I give him problems sometimes. And he’s a champion.”

Will have to Fabian grow to be a champ this weekend, the Edwards brothers could be an extraordinary poised of siblings to reign as global champions concurrently — however no longer the one ones in Bellator historical past.

In October 2021, two-division champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire vacated his light-weight name, pronouncing he used to be doing so as to permit his brother, Patricky, to advance for the belt. And a generation then, Patricky did win it, giving the Freire society a couple of Bellator titles. Patricky misplaced his belt terminating November. Patricio rest the featherweight champion.

Lately, just one pair of siblings reigning as champs in a significant MMA promotion: Christian and Angela Lee in One Championship. Angela has been the atomweight champion since 2016. Christian first received the light-weight belt in 2019 and now’s in his 2nd name reign. (Endmost November, he added the welterweight name.)

That the Edwards brothers are at the verge of such an fulfillment would had been inconceivable to fathom only some years in the past. They have been born in Kingston, Jamaica, Leon in August 1991, and Fabian 17 months then. When Fabian used to be seven, the society emigrated to England and settled in Birmingham. As have been the case in Kingston, there used to be gang violence within the streets of Birmingham, and Fabian and Leon witnessed a dozen of it.

“We were brought up to always have each other’s back,” Fabian stated. “We came from a foreign country, so we only had each other. That was the mentality.”

Their dad used to be killed in a nightclub capturing when Fabian used to be 11. No longer too lengthy in a while, a untouched MMA gymnasium opened of their community, and their mother were given Leon concerned to book him off the road. Fabian didn’t catch the worm till he used to be in his early 20s.

“When everyone say, who was the guy you were watching before you came into MMA? It was Leon,” stated Fabian all over his Bellator 296 postfight press convention. “Leon showed everyone, from Birmingham at least, that you can do this full time. You can make a good earning, you can make something of yourself. You can inspire people from it.”

Fabian received his first 9 professional fights in MMA, maximum by way of knockout or submission, however what inspired Lovell much more used to be what his fighter did upcoming losing two bouts in a row. “He got right back into the gym, worked to get better, then took out a couple of the top names in the game,” the educator stated, relating to Mousasi and previous UFC sunny heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida, whom Edwards knocked out terminating 12 months.

Edwards (12-2) has received 3 fights in a row, however he faces an uphill combat this weekend in opposition to an undefeated champion (13-0) in Eblen. At Caesars Sportsbook, Edwards is between a +320 and +340 making a bet underdog. However in line with ESPN Stats & Knowledge, the ones odds are just about similar to those his brother confronted the evening he dethroned Usman.

“See what can happen?” Fabian stated. “In my last fight, I was the underdog against Mousasi, and see how I took him apart? I put no man on a pedestal. I look at my opponent as just a man, like me.”

Or a champion, identical to what Fabian Edwards aspires to be.