Bad Blood Persists Between Fabian Edwards and ‘Fake’ Johnny Eblen

Fabian Edwards is not a fan of Johnny Eblen’s antics.

Edwards (13-3) will challenge Eblen (15-0) in a middleweight title rematch at Bellator Champions Series London on Sept. 14. Eblen successfully defended his Bellator MMA 185-pound title with a third-round TKO in the pair’s initial meeting at Bellator 299 in September 2023. “Pressure” immediately started trash-talking a fallen Edwards, whose brother Leon Edwards entered the fray, leading to a heated exchange that needed security intervention.

Eblen then made headlines by going on a $85,000 shopping spree with his then-rumoured girlfriend, OnlyFans model Jessenia Rebecca, days prior to his title fight against Impa Kasanganay at Bellator vs. PFL Champions this past February. While Rebecca had threatened to dump Eblen if he lost, the champ went on to defend his strap with a narrow split decision.

Going by Eblen’s antics outside of fighting and a few interactions out of the cage, Edwards labelled the champ “fake.” Edwards believes Eblen’s OnlyFans venture was nothing more than a publicity stunt.

“I think he’s a bit fake to be honest. I think he’s a bit of a fake guy, you know. The Only Fans thing was set up, you know what I mean? Edwards told talkSPORT. “If you’re a champion why do you feel like you need to do that just to try to sell yourself a bit more? I find that weird. I’ve had a few interactions with him outside of being in the cage, and I just take him as a fake person.' ‌ ‘My coach keeps saying just make sure on fight week you keep it nice and make sure you don’t try attacking before you go in the cage. So yeah the beef still goes on.”

Going into the rematch, Edwards believes he has already felt the best of Eblen in their first meeting. While it’ll be the first rematch of his career, “The Assassin” knows what’s coming from conversations he has had with others.

“I feel like I felt the best version of him, leading up before our first fight got stopped I felt like I handled everything that he threw at me. It was just an error on my side and that’s the sport, you know what I mean? That’s the sport. ‌ I’ve felt him, I’ve never had a rematch before. I’ve spoken to some of the guys in the gym that have had rematches. Obviously my brother had a rematch with [Kamaru Usman,] and it’s just like you’ve felt them before. Now you know what they’re going to throw at you. You know exactly how to prepare, I’m excited for it.”