Michael Bisping suggests Ian Machado Garry for Leon Edwards after UFC Fight Night 255 loss

Michael Bisping wants to see Leon Edwards matched with a fellow striker after UFC Fight Night 255.

Edwards (22-5 MMA, 14-4 UFC) suffered his second-straight loss when he was submitted by Sean Brady in Saturday’s main event at The O2 in London. The loss marked the first time Edwards was stopped in his career.

Former welterweight champion Edwards’ past five fights were against elite grapplers. He initially was scheduled to face Jack Della Maddalena at UFC Fight Night 255 before Della Maddalena was pulled and replaced by Brady. Bisping likes the idea of an England vs. Ireland matchup between Edwards and Ian Machado Garry (15-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC).

“I like the Ian Garry matchup because I think Leon deserves to go out there and fight someone that’s going to give him a stylistically favorable matchup,” Bisping told TNT Sports of Edwards. “I don’t mean a winnable fight, but not a nightmare scenario where another guy is trying to take him down. Give him like what Jack (Della Maddalena) would have been. I think the biggest opponent for Leon Edwards now though is going to be himself. What’s going on in (his head)? Does he accept that, ‘OK, I was just beaten by two really high-level grapplers, maybe the two best grapplers in the division, and I’m still (33) years old, I haven’t slowed down, I haven’t got injuries, I’m not riddled with arthritis.’

“Does he have the strength to say, ‘Hold on a minute. I’m going to rebuild myself.’ Or does he succumb to the self doubt, because that starts to creep in now. You think, ‘Well, I’ve earned a lot of money, I’ve become the champion, I’ve traveled all over the world, I’m set up financially for life. I’m a kid from Birmingham who comes from nothing.’ Because the danger of allowing that mindset to come in is very, very easy, thinking I’ve had my time in the sun. That’s going to be the biggest fight, because if he doesn’t do that, if he can look past that, I still see a world where Leon Edwards could potentially be in in the title mix again. Granted, he’s going to need at least three wins, but he’s got to start getting some wins and finishing some people if those conversations are going to start again.”

In his most recent outing, Machado Garry suffered his first career loss when he dropped a unanimous decision to Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 255.