Yves Edwards has just about done it all and seen it all in is MMA career. He has fought some of the best in the world including guys like Cael Uno, Nate Marquardt, Matt Serra, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Josh Thomson and many more.
Whether he’s won or lost, Edwards has always focused on the task at hand and views every fight as a must win affair. Edwards (41-17-1 MMA, 9-5 UFC), who is coming off a win against Rafeallo Oliveria at the UFC on Versus 6 show at the beginning of October, faces Ultimate Fighter Season 13 winner Tony Ferguson (12-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC) on Saturday night at the The Ultimate Fighter Season 14 Finale from The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. The fight will be shown live on Spike TV.
Edwards had lost to Sam Stout at UFC 131 by devastating KO. A lot of people were wondering heading into the Oliveria fight if it was a must win fight for Edwards, and whether he was fighting for his job.
“I feel every fight is a must win fight,” Edwards told me. “You never know what’s gunna happen. Winning spells everything as far as that’s concerned. Everytime someone is put in front of me, someone puts out a contract, I have to win. That’s the gameplan. I take the fight because I believe I can win. I train hard to prepare to win. I go out there an fight for the focus of winning. I can’t think in those terms. Those terms absolutely make no sense to me. As a fighter, you go out there to win every single fight. So every fight is a must win, as far as like any NFL or NBA team. You go out there to win every single time. Sometimes you fall short, sometimes you absolutely fail, but everytime you go out there you go out there with the goal to succeed.
Every fight is a must win. I don’t understand that statement. I think that’s the craziest thing in sports when they say, “this is a must win game for this team.”
“Well this is a must win fight for this guy. Nobody’s going out with the intention of losing unless they are in the wrong business.”
This will be the fourth time Edwards has stepped into the Octagon this year, as he fought in January, June, October and now in December. We usually only see guys fight two to three times a year. Considering he just fought on October 1, most guys wouldn’t do it, but Edwards is a different type of fighter.
“I didn’t think I would get another shot. I took the fight because I wanted to. It’s one of those things I definitely wanted to do, especially with the timing. I was just coming off a fight, I was in good shape. I just wanted to go out there and perform. Getting this opportunity to fight right after Thanksgiving being from the Bahamas. Thanksgiving is not a big deal to me, it’s not something we really celebrate at home. But this is before Christmas, I get to go in there and get another day at the office. Have a good time fighting and then right afterwards I get to go home and enjoy the whole Christmas break.Not worry about fighting for a good couple weeks or months and be able to eat, get a little fat, make a New Years’ Resolution, just enjoy and do what your supposed to do at winter time. Stay in bed and under the covers.”
His opponent on Saturday, Tony Ferguson, won Season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter in impressive fashion over Ramsey Nijem, and stopped Aaron Riley at UFC 135. Edwards holds Ferguson in high regard heading into the fight.
“Honestly, I’ve only seen his fights since I’ve been training for him. I saw his finale fight against Ramsey Nijem and saw his fight with Riley. It’s one of those things. You think, “oh this kid looks tough, he looks good, he hits hard.”
“But I wasn’t training for him at the time. I wasn’t looking for holes in his game. I wasn’t looking for the things he’s really good at. Saw his fight with Riley. I thought Riley looked good for awhile, but then he started to get outclassed towards the middle to the end of that first round. And then going back and having to look at that guy as an opponent. That guy is really good in some areas, in some areas he’s just not so strong. I’m gunna try and capitalize on the areas where he’s not so strong., but it’s not going to be easy. The guy is tough, he hits hard, he’s got long range and he seems like he uses it well. I’m not quite as long as him. I use my reach pretty well also, so that’s going to be a little battle right there. I think that’s gunna be a fun part of the fight. There’s some things i can capitalize on. There’s some things I definitely want to avoid with this guy. It’s gunna be one of those fights that’s cerebral at times, then at some times it’s gunna be pretty guerilla like and just violent, so it’s gunna be a lot of fun.”
You can listen to the two part interview with Yves Edwards here.
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