Countdown of the week's best UFC & PFL fights: #6

Val Dewar

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Countdown of the week's best UFC & PFL fights: #6 image

6. Johnny Eblen vs Fabian Edwards

Through two rounds of their first meeting, for the middleweight title at Bellator 299, Fabian Edwards and undefeated Johnny Eblen looked about equal; the score was 19-19. Fabian had outstruck Eblen in the first round but got dropped in the second, however he had still stuffed the takedowns of Johnny.

That all changed when Eblen's second blow of the third round blinked the brother of then-UFC champ Leon Edwards square on the chin and dropped him. However, the brutal part came next, as Johnny jumped on top of a still-aware Fabian, only for Eblen to ground and pound with elbows to bounce his head off the canvas until the Brit was unconscious on that fateful canvas in Dublin.

Now they are set to rematch as the first of three title fights in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as the first of three title fights of PFL’s Super Fight event entitled "Battle of the Giants," on pay-per-view this Saturday at 4pm EST.

They are nearly evenly matched in the striking, though Eblen clear explosiveness advantage and his D-1 NCAA wrestling background with a top-ranked program make it hard to pick against him. The longer the fight lasts the more likely Johnny is to succeed in taking it to the mat.

While I pick him to win, this clearly competitive, skillful, and obviously important matchup for the Bellator middleweight throne (despite being on a PFL event) could either go either way.

On another note, the fact that we are not even in the top five of this list yet and have already listed two title fights is a testament to how good this week is for fights.

Val Dewar

Val Dewar Photo

Val was initiated into Steelers Nation from the moment he was born — his first memory is a game vs. New England from when "Slash" was QB — and doing sports writing has always been a dream career for him. In 2022 he broke into the industry by writing about combat sports for Cageside Press, and now has the opportunity to continue that work with TSN as an MMA writer, as well as get his feet wet on the Steelers beat.