Leon Edwards is in the firing line of fighters, fans, and pundits following UFC London.
The former welterweight champion was dominated en route to a fourth-round submission defeat against Sean Brady at the O2 Arena on Saturday night.
Fans left UFC London early before Brady mocked ‘Rocky’ following the first stoppage loss of his 28-fight career.
Now, UFC analyst Din Thomas has piled on by publicly claiming Leon Edwards is not a ‘true fighter’.
Din Thomas shares brutal Leon Edwards take
Edwards suffered a similarly dominant defeat against Belal Muhammad at UFC 304 last July.
Thomas, who was in Brady’s corner this past weekend, believes the Englishman’s recent performances prove he lacks the heart of a ‘real fighter’.
“I don’t want to be disrespectful toward Leon,” he said on the On Paper With Anthony Smith podcast.
“I still believe that skill for skill, like his body type and all that, that he was a great champion. He’s a great fighter. He’s still top-five material. But I just don’t think that Leon, in his heart, is a real, true fighter.
“And I say in terms of, like, Justin Gaethje and Dustin Poirier, like these guys will fight you in a parking lot.
“I think he’s an athlete. I think he’s a performer. I think he’s creative. I think in the gym, he probably eats up everybody. He’s super magical. I just think when the lights come on and it’s time for him to really fight, despite not being a true fighter, he was still that good.”
Din Thomas highlights moment Leon Edwards lost at UFC London
After being mauled on the ground for 4:57 of round two, Edwards did something weird in the third frame.
The talented striker made a massive mistake when he shot in for a takedown on Brady, which left his cornerman supremely confident that the fight would end with the American getting his hand raised.
Thomas added: “When he did that, I got quiet and I looked at John Marquez, the head coach, and said, ‘Did he just try to take Sean down?’
“And then when he got reversed, John was like, ‘Man, we could just play checkers and we could literally play chess right now because we don’t need to do anything.’
“We just knew at that point, the fight was over. When Leon shot that takedown, he showed his hand that he did not want to be there anymore, and that was a wrap.”