Eblen ‘Squashed The Beef’ With Edwards After Near-Brawl

Eblen explained why he got in UFC champion Leon Edwards’ face after knocking out his brother in Dublin.

The main event between Johnny Eblen and Fabian Edwards at Bellator Dublin ended with a bit of a scrum after Johnny KO’d Fabian (highlights here) and then got in the face of his opponent’s more famous brother, UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards.

Edwards was checking on his brother when Eblen stormed across the cage to yell at them. Scores of officials swarmed the fighters to keep things verbal, but it was an ugly scene — made uglier by accusations afterward that Eblen may have spat on Fabian moments after his stoppage.

Take a look:

Cooler heads did prevail, and Eblen made a point of shaking both men’s hands before leaving the cage. During the post-fight press conference, the Bellator middleweight champion opened up on the incident.

“A lot of emotions, bro.” he said. “His brother is a great fighter. I honestly hope he beats Colby [Covington]. I f—ing hate Colby. That dude sucks.”

“But yeah, I want to fight him, too. He’s one of the best guys in the world, and I want to prove I’m one of the best in the world. You have to fight everybody. He’s not in my weight class, but he might go up to 185 eventually.”

“I went over after and said, ‘Sorry, my emotions were high,’” Eblen said. “I squashed the beef. I don’t have anything wrong with him. I just want to fight the guy.”

A lot of things would have to happen for that to go down: Johnny Eblen would have to leave Bellator, where he’s the 185 pound champion. Leon Edwards would have to move up from 170, where he’s the UFC welterweight champion. Careers are long and you never know what the future holds, but we have our doubts Eblen and the elder Edwards will ever face off in a cage.