'I'm still in shock': Edwards hits hurdle

Ben Edwards is supposed to be sharpening his hands inside a New York gym right now, just days out from his return to the cage.

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Instead, a torn calf left the unbeaten mixed martial arts heavyweight bed-ridden in his Canberra home for six hours and close to tears.

Ben Edwards is holding out hope for a million-dollar tournament opportunity. Picture: Elesa Kurtz

Edwards' (4-0) injury setback has ruled him out of his Professional Fighters League debut against Ante Delija (15-3) at the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island on Friday (AEST).

Any fighter will tell you every fight is an emotional roller coaster - "you're up, you're down, you're nervous, you're excited, you're scared, you're happy, you're all over the place".

But "this one has just been off the charts". It would have to be for Edwards to pull out of a fight - something he has now done just three times while clocking up 64 fights across three sports.

The first time was due to stress fractures in both hands. The second was when his mum was in intensive care. And the third just seems like it was not meant to be.

First came the ill-fated appointment at the United States consulate in Sydney when Edwards went searching for a visa.

"The guy at the consulate, he was just having a bad day. I've actually got a visa for America, I just need a different kind of one," Edwards said.

MMA fighter Ben Edwards is desperate for a shot on the world stage. Picture: Dimitri Yianoulakis

"He was like 'nup, you need more information on your criminal history'. I've been honest on every visa application, but because it has been 15 years since I have had anything on there, nothing comes up on my police check.

"I had to get a proper AFP police check which took an extra week. I'm still waiting to hear from the consulate. It has been the shittest couple of weeks.

"I decided I was just going to keep on training. It sounds easy, but that is a very mentally hard thing to do. To think I didn't know if it was going to go through or not because some guy was having a bad day at the US consulate, that really threw me off for a couple of days.

"Then I decided I was just going to train like the fight is happening. Back in the day, I would have imploded.

"That would have just been the green light, binge eating, see you later, no way I would have kept training, but I did."

He kept turning up at the gym every day in preparation for what was to be a crossroads fight in his career - Edwards' first fight against a wrestler that was going to do everything he could to take him down.

Ben Edwards is unbeaten in MMA. Picture: Dimitri Yianoulakis

Edwards warmed up properly, ditched concrete for a treadmill, and had been at his fight week weight for five weeks already. But his fascia still gave out.

"I hurt it back in January cutting weight for the last fight, but back then I didn't warm up properly, my calves were sore as shit, I was 140 kilos and I was running on concrete," Edwards said.

"So I thought next time I go for a run, I'm going to warm up, I'm going to run on a treadmill, I'm not going to be too heavy, I'm going to do everything right. That's what I did.

"I was only a kilometre in, and I've been running heaps, and it just went. I couldn't believe it man, I was nearly in tears.

"I was just laying in bed for six hours, just in shock. I couldn't believe it. I just felt like I had this weight on top of me.

"I'm still in shock, I still have to remind myself I'm not fighting, it's still processing in my head."

Ben Edwards is still hoping to make an impact in the PFL. Picture: Rohan Thomson

All the while he has had the support of his partner Carly, who was due to head to New York for the bout, and Edwards concedes "I don't know what I would have done without her".

Edwards' return to fighting in the United States was set to determine his place in the standings for the PFL's million-dollar tournament, which pits 13 heavyweights against each other.

While the "thousands of dollars" Edwards spent on his training camp have gone down the drain for now, the Canberra product is still holding out hope he will get a start in July or August once he is declared fit.

His manager Zen Ginnen - the same man behind the likes of Tai Tuivasa and Mark Hunt - and PFL president Ray Sefo have gone above and beyond to make something happen.

"I don't care if they chuck me in the tournament with zero points and I have the hardest match-up straight away, I don't care, I just want to be in it," Edwards said.

"If I'm in, I'm happy."