All the necessary pieces appear to be in place for
Fabian
Edwards to make some serios waves in the
Bellator
MMA middleweight division.
“The Assassin” will toe the line against
SBG Ireland’s
Charlie
Ward in the
Bellator 287 co-main event on Saturday at Allianz Cloud Arena
in Milan, Italy. Edwards—the younger brother of current
Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight titleholder
Leon
Edwards—has rattled off five victories in seven appearances
since he joined the
Scott
Coker-led promotion in 2019. He last competed at Bellator 281,
where he cut down
Lyoto
Machida with an elbow strike and follow-up punches in the first
round of their May 13 encounter. Ward, meanwhile, steps into the
cage on a three-fight winning streak. He has compiled a 7-1 record
in Bellator.
As Edwards and Ward inch closer to their forthcoming battle at 185
pounds, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to
this point:
29: Years of age for Edwards, who was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on
March 24, 1993.
3: Edwards victories by submission, accounting for 30% of his
career total (10). His methods of choice: two rear-naked chokes and
one armbar. Edwards holds four other victories by knockout or
technical knockout (40%) and three more by decision (30%).
60: Seconds needed for Edwards to bury
Claudio
Conti with a body kick under the British Association of Mixed
Martial Arts banner on May 12, 2018. More than four years later, it
remains his fastest finish to date.
16: Rounds completed by Edwards as a professional mixed martial
artist. He has gone the distance on five different occasions and
carries a 3-2 mark in those bouts.
.857: Cumulative winning percentage between the two
opponents—
Austin
Vanderford and
Costello
van Steenis—who have beaten Edwards. They boast a combined
record of 24-4.
41: Years of age for Ward, who was born on Dec. 17, 1980 in
Portlaoise, Ireland.
6: Ward wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 60%
of his career total (10). His list of Bellator victims:
Kyle Kurtz,
Justin
Moore,
Jamie
Stephenson,
Martin
Hudson and
John
Redmond. Ward owns four other wins by decision (40%).
1,071: Days since Ward last experienced a setback.
Pietro
Penini was the perpetrator, as he took a unanimous decision
from the Irishman at Bellator “MVP vs. Melillo” on Nov. 23,
2019.
1: Sub-minute finish on the Ward resume. He punched out the
aforementioned Stephenson in 34 seconds as part of the Bellator 217
undercard in February 2019.
49: Combined victories between the four opponents—Penini,
Galore
Bofando,
Abdul
Razak Alhassan and
John
Phillips—who have defeated Ward. They sport a cumulative .681
winning percentage at 49-22-1.