Many suspected that Leon Edwards could have come into his welterweight title defense at UFC 304 less than in ideal condition following his performance.
The champion was defeated by Belal Muhammad over five rounds with his head coach later revealing some details about what they went through in camp.
Dave Lovell spoke in an interview with Submission Radio about how a back injury to Edwards had him questioning whether they should proceed with the fight.
The champion himself made the call to keep aiming for July 27 and whilst Lovell clearly stated that Muhammad more than deserved to win, it did play a factor.
Where Leon was concerned, a lot of people don’t know this — and I’m not making any kind of excuses for him — but we had a few niggles in camp. His back was niggling him,” Lovell said. “So he couldn’t wrestle the way he really needed to, offensively and defensively. We’re not taking anything away from Belal’s performance. He did well; the best man won on the night. But Leon will be back.
Despite a lot of people believing that "Rocky" didn't look himself in Manchester, the reaction on social media to the news about his back injury didn't appear to go down well with some fans.
The social media reaction to this clip from the interview appears to have attracted a lot of people who would rather that these things remain behind closed doors.
"They're always injured when they lose."
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"this is the first of many excuses to come"
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"I thought Leon already said in the octagon after the fight the reason he performed the way he did was because he was tired all week. I assume he was talking about the fact that he had to fight on the US time zone in the UK. So thats now 2 excuses from Leon and his camp…"
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"Cool story bro, 3-4 more wins and maybe Leon will get another title shot"
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"Here comes the excuses"
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"Here we go. I like Leon, but I bet if he told Dana before the fight there would be a rematch"
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