Leon Edwards has been encouraged to move away from his careful style and fight with aggression in his important upcoming match against Sean Brady.
Edwards’s return to the octagon is the main event of UFC Fight Night 255 in London’s O2 Arena.
Edwards, 33, aims to return to winning form against Sean Brady, a submission expert. This is his first fight since losing his welterweight title to Belal Muhammad last July.
Edwards’s loss to Muhammad was partly because he allowed Muhammad to be the aggressor. This passive approach, however, had been successful in his fight with Kamaru Usman and victory over Colby Covington.
Michael Bisping, former middleweight champion and UFC commentator, believes Edwards needs a tactical change to defeat Brady.
Bisping told SunSport, “Leon often backs up against the fence.
“But he must avoid that this time and move forward.
“He needs to pressure Brady, land strikes, and gain Brady’s respect.
“He has to make Sean Brady doubt himself by hitting him hard.”
“He needs to hurt Brady. We saw in his title win over Usman that he can finish fights when needed.”
Bisping understands Edwards’s mindset before facing Brady. He himself quickly returned to fighting after losing his middleweight title to Georges St-Pierre at UFC 217 in November 2017.
Bisping hopes that the pressure on Edwards to win at home will push him to abandon his recent cautious style.
Britain’s first UFC champion said, “He needs to be aggressive in his mindset.
“He has to move forward and try to put Brady on the defensive.
“As champion, he seemed to fall into the trap of fighting not to lose.”
“He’s got to be aggressive, go forward, and hurt Sean Brady to put him on the back foot.”
Regarding Edwards facing another grappler, Bisping stated, “It’s business as usual for Leon.
“He has fought and defeated this style throughout his career. Opponents always try to take him down.
“So, he applies the hard work from his previous training camps to this fight and aims to get the victory.”
Elton Marrow 
Gideon Holt