Coach laments Leon Edwards’ early morning loss to Belal Muhammad

Dave Lovell insists we didn’t see nearly the best version of Leon Edwards when he fought Belal Muhammad at UFC 304.

Edwards (22-4 MMA, 14-3 UFC) lost his welterweight title to Muhammad (24-3 MMA, 15-3 UFC) by unanimous decision last July. Edwards reiterated his discontent with having to fight in the middle of the night in Manchester to cater to the U.S. pay-per-view time, which he says heavily impacted his performance.

His head coach agrees.

“There were some major factors leading up to the fight, forget the minor injury apart,” Lovell said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.”. “In England, when have you ever heard of a sportsman performing 6 o’clock in the morning? It’s never been heard of before, and no doubt you’ll never hear of it again.

“It was just a freaky moment in time, and Leon had to deal with it. To lose to Belal in the fashion he lost to him, the world knows he’s a lot better than that. We know. Most and foremost, he knows he’s better than that. Yeah, it was a major setback, but we’re on the road back to gold. What more can I say to that?”

Edwards will look to rebound when he takes on Sean Brady (17-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 255 (ESPN+) main event at The O2 in London. The loss to Muhammad snapped Edwards’ 13-fight unbeaten streak.

“It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but I take nothing from Belal,” Lovell said. “He won, he waited his time like Leon did, so let him make the most of it. Fair play to him, but it’s a bitter pill for me to swallow for the simple fact of how Leon lost it, the lackluster effort for whatever reason because we all know that was, what, 30, 35, 40 percent of Leon Edwards that night?”

Brady was not Edwards’ original opponent. Edwards was slated to face Jack Della Maddalena, but Della Maddalena was pulled to challenge Muhammad for the belt May 10 at UFC 315.

Did Lovell think Edwards should have gotten the call instead?

“It’s like, he’s just held the title, he’s lost it, and maybe it’s going to be a bit unusual for him to get the call to fight back for the title straight away,” Lovell admitted. “That’s very rare you hear that happen. But why not?

“Because I know he can beat Belal, he knows he can beat Belal, I think Belal knows he can beat him. Belal caught Leon on a very, very low night, and he came out the winner, and that’s the way it is. There’s nothing you can say or do about that.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 255.