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Even though MMA is the ultimate individual sport, nonetheless, the nature of training and sparring fosters a team culture where top fighters train together.
That reality recently caused problems for Ian Garry and Team Renegade where Leon Edwards trains.
“His coach said the words: ‘Ian is a threat, I cannot have Leon having any doubts or insecurities,’” Garry recently claimed, speaking of why he was barred for Edwards’ training camp.
UFC champ Leon Edwards hits back at Ian Garry’s narrative
Edwards has his own take on this whole mess.
“I think everyone knows that’s bullsh*t,” Leon Edwards explained to Sky Sports (transcript via MMA Junkie). “I’m on top of my game. Basically, the gym decided that he just wasn’t fitting for the gym. We’re just too different – the culture in our gym, he’s like a talker, a social media guy, brings his cameras everywhere. He’s late to sessions. It’s like two different cultures to what we have in our gym. The guys decided, not because of me.”
“I wish him well in his career, I’ve got nothing good or bad to say about him,” Edwards said. “The coaches decided that he didn’t fit into the gym. It wasn’t the first gym he’s been kicked out of, right? He was in America. What happened there? His gym in Ireland that he started with, what happened there? So, it can’t be everyone else around you, right?”
Edwards denies Pimblett rumors
Paddy Pimblett recently claimed Edwards KO’d Garry in training.
“Ian Garry doesn’t deserve a title shot, lad, come on,” Pimblett said in a recent interview. “Leon’s already knocked him out in training so we don’t need to know about that. That’s what I heard.”
Edwards was quick to shut that down.
“I didn’t knock him out in training by the way,” Edwards said. “He got good work, but how do you go from that to insecure? I think he wants this. He wants everybody talking about him and like I said, I wish him well. Hopefully he finds a team that he can actually settle with, and that’s his team. I just find it strange how you get to his level with no team is weird. Being in the UFC, you’ve got no one that’s loyal to you or wants you there. That is strange.”
Leon Edwards will be defending his UFC welterweight title against Colby Covington at UFC 296 on December 16, 2013 at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.