Bellator middleweight champion Johnny Eblen is back to defend his title and after a reshuffling of the cards, will compete on one of the biggest events of the year.
The champ was originally set to defend his belt in a rematch with Fabian Edwards in London but the fight was pushed back to Battle Of The Giants in Riyadh this Saturday.
On a stacked main card, the two men will run it back after Eblen stopped Edwards in the third round last September at Bellator 299 in Dublin.
Though he got the finish to extend his undefeated record to 14-0, the American Top Team athlete had to come through some adversity before getting the stoppage.
He was cut early on in the fight by Team Renegade's Edwards but Eblen recently stated on The Ariel Helwani Show that he's grateful for these difficult moments that show what he's made of:
"Absolutely, even my last with Impa (Kasanganay), I got knocked down in the second and I had to come out, dig deep and win the fight in the third. So similar type of fight the last time that I fought Edwards except he had me cut and the fight might get stopped early and I really had to dig deep and push the action and push the pressure and I finished him and that's hard to do and I'm glad that I was able to get that done. I think it's important for guys to see that. For me, it was great for that to happen and for me to still come out on top because usually, that's not the case."
Following their first encounter, Eblen and Edwards temporarily went their separate ways.
The Bellator middleweight champion went on to beat PFL light heavyweight winner Impa Kasanganay in a close fight at the PFL vs. Bellator event whilst Edwards bounce back with a win over fellow top contender, Aaron Jeffery.
There was a lot of tension between the two men the first time around that hit it's highest point in the immediate aftermath of the fight being waved off.
However, this time around, things are a lot more mellow between Eblen and Edwards who, as the champion says, are there to do a job:
"No it's not personal. I think this time around, it's been better. At the end of the day, we're both high level athletes, both killers and we're here to do a job and I think this time around, we're treating it more like that. Not too much with the antics, not too much with when we do the face-off, we're not getting emotional and I think it's good. It's just us growing as fighters and also we've already been in there, done that and I knocked him out last time so it's like if he comes in with an attitude, it wouldn't really make any sense. For me, I'm just gonna show that respect back to him because he's not trying to pull anything or be emotional about anything."
Watch the full interview below:
