FABIAN EDWARDS plans to build an MMA gym with his brother Leon – in a bid to give back to the sport that saved them.
Edwards was born in Jamaica – growing up in a one bedroom wooden house until his family moved to England when he was seven and Leon nine.
They were raised in London – where their dad was brutally murdered in a nightclub in 2004 – before relocating to Birmingham.
Leon – a former UFC champion – started MMA aged 17 with his younger brother joining five years.
Edwards, only a year younger than Leon, admits MMA saved them from a life of crime in the gritty streets of Birmingham.
So if he was to win the $500,000 three-stage Professional Fighters League tournament – he will look to open up a gym of his own.
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Edwards, 32, told SunSport: “I’ve got a house, I’d probably just pay it off. Just do a bit of investment here and there with it.
“And probably open a gym with my brother, so it’s not like I’m thinking, I wanna get the money and buy a fast car.
“It’s more so let’s get your money and and use it to to secure life, basically, life after fighting and that’s how I look at it.
“That’s how I look at fighting. I use this now to secure my life after.”
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But Edwards laughs when he admits his spending habits would be differ had he entered the PFL at the start of his career.
He said: “Oh yeah, definitely! If I was like 25 or whatever, I’d be saying f*** the house, mate, you know what I mean? I’m going shopping!
“But yeah, I just turned 32, got three kids. I’m blessed to be in the position that I’m in so I gotta think in a smart way when I make my money and how to use it properly.”
Having been put on the right track through MMA – Edwards wants to do the same for other troubled youngsters in the city.
He said: “I’d love to give back to Birmingham, for those in position that I was in when I was a kid, so that’s definitely a route that we’re gonna go down.
“I say to people as well, it’s not even so much if you make it pro with the sport, it’s just the discipline that it gives you in your life.
“Even if I was to stop MMA tomorrow, I think just the mindset that it that it’s given me, just knowing that you gotta work hard for things and be disciplined.
“I feel like a lot of kids can use that mindset to achieve whatever they wanna do, whether it’s just through fighting or if they use fighting as the driving force.”
Edwards faces former PFL light-heavyweight champion Impa Kasanganay, 31, next Friday in Florida.
It is the first of potentially three in the win-or-go-home tournament – where a $500,000 prize bonus goes to winners.
And Edwards, facing one of the favourites, said: “Why not go through that guy first, rather than hoping that I don’t get him.
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“That’s not my way of thinking. I think let’s go through the hardest guy.
“I want that’s the hardest guy in the tournament and yeah, and we’ll go from there.”
