Coach Dave Lovell sheds light on how "a bit traumatized" Leon Edwards has been dealing with UFC 304 title loss: "Broken-hearted over it"

Leon Edwards dropped the welterweight strap to Belal Muhammad at UFC 304 in front of his home crowd at the Co-op Live in Manchester, England According to his coach Dave Lovell, the aftermath of the loss has seemingly left a traumatizing effect on 'Rocky'.

Muhammad took the fight to Edwards from the opening bell, leveraging his wrestling acumen to maximum advantage. He walked Edwards down, changed levels with ease, and took his rival down with dominance, withstanding the late barrage of elbows that left him split open and leaking. When the tens and nines were tallied, Muhammad came out on top with the UFC welterweight title on his waist.

Lovell spoke at length about the emotional impact of the loss in a recent interview with Submission Radio, stating:

"You know what? It [the loss] hurts him more mentally than physically because physically all he had was a couple of mouses [black eye] under his eye. But emotionally he was brokenhearted over it. So physically okay, but mentally a bit you know traumatizing."

Catch Lovell's comments below (0:45):

Before the loss against Muhammad, Edwards was undefeated since May 2016, collecting 12 victories in the process. He holds the record for the second-longest unbeaten streak in divisional history and was a favorite going into the fight at UFC 304.

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Former rival advises Leon Edwards to move to the middleweight division

Regrouping from a loss is always difficult for a fighter, especially for someone like Leon Edwards, who was undefeated in 13 fights.

Following the loss, Edwards issued a statement claiming that he has "been through harder times" and asserting that he will "rise again." In the aftermath of the loss, a narrative has been taking shape that 'Rocky' should move up in weight class.

Kamaru Usman, who dropped the 170-pound crown to Edwards at UFC 278, sided with the notion that the 32-year-old should test the waters of the middleweight division. Speaking on the latest episode of the Pound-4-Pound podcast with Henry Cejudo, Usman said:

“I’m anxious to see how Leon Edwards is going to regroup and get back if he does get back. I know he was talking about moving up before this. I mean he’s a guy who I would see like to move up to middleweight."

He added:

“I would like to see him move up to middleweight if he can put the size on because his style is- there’s not a lot of middleweights that are grappling like myself or Belal… I wouldn’t mind seeing him at middleweight.”

Catch Usman's comments below (26:00):