The date was Aug. 21, 2004, and the world was clenched within Yves Edwards (Pictures)' fist. Or at least he thought it was.

Edwards had just scored a sensational knockout of Josh Thomson (Pictures) at UFC 49, and his immediate future within the UFC seemed to shine as bright as Venus at dawn.

Within a few weeks, however, the lightweight division would be torn asunder behind Zuffa's walls. Edwards, along with his 155-pound contemporaries, were left to fend for themselves without a home in the Octagon.

At that point, Zuffa had no room for its lightweight division. The fledgling company just couldn't afford to operate a weight class below 170 pounds. There were no massive pay-per-view numbers, no reality television shows and no million-dollar fighters in the UFC.

But at least Edwards had been tagged as the promotion's uncrowned lightweight champion -- perhaps his only parting gift as he exited the Octagon.

Edwards was regarded among the best at 155 pounds, but stateside he was left with virtually no avenue to demonstrate his immense talent. This chapter in his life was a virtual breaking point. After all the blood and sweat he had shed just to reach what he believed was the pinnacle, it was taken away from him.

"The frustrating part is not that they are now finally pushing the weight classes for the smaller guys because now they finally have the opportunity to do that," Edwards told Sherdog.com. "They got big TV deals, big pay-per-view buys and their company has grown a lot, and it's actually been fun to watch. But the part that is frustrating is that I'm not a part of the UFC right now while this is all happening. At the same time, I was the one who lost a couple fights there, and that's the reason why I am not with the UFC."

Eventually Zuffa began to generate millions of dollars almost solely on the strength of "The Ultimate Fighter." After a few fights outside the Octagon, Edwards was welcomed back to the UFC. However, his professional career had already begun its descent, and as recently as July 2007, it appeared as though the Bahamian's best days were behind him.

Dropping three in a row and five of six, the electrifying and elusive bomber became an empty shell. His name eventually paralleled the dreaded journeyman status, but he never contemplated packing it in.

"It was one of those things where, of course, you get discouraged with a loss," he said. "When I fought Joachim [Hansen], it was the first time I lost [in a while], and it's kind of crazy because at no point in my entire career did I ever have two losses in a row. Then I had two losses in a row and went to Japan and picked up a win. I came back and then had three losses in a row, one in UFC and two in Bodog. Twice now I had to deal with something that I never dealt with before.

"Looking back, yeah, it was distracting and discouraging, but there was never a time or point where I felt that I had to take time away or questioned whether this was something I really wanted," he continued. "I did think about taking time away to train and get better, but I didn't know what I needed to do to set that up. Things worked out where I started training with the guys at American Top Team, and I didn't actually need to take any time off once that started. My training wasn't exactly where it needed to be, but it was definitely going in the proper direction as far as the things I was missing at that point."

Fighters who typically reside in the upper echelon of the sport sometimes allow personal distractions or injuries to cripple their careers. There are times when certain people almost lose it all because they can't seem to focus their energy or just can't shake a nagging knee or back.

"I wasn't injured and I don't think there were any personal problems," Edwards said. "The thing is that I was just doing the wrong things. I wasn't training properly. I wasn't training with good guys. I wasn't preparing myself in the correct way. I think now that I got that situated with ATT, it's made a big difference. I was doing the wrong things like preparing for MMA fights but going at [training] as if I was a boxer and solely a boxer. That was, I think, the biggest problem."

So far the change of scenery has been beneficial. Edwards has shed the skin of a man who dropped more fights in a two-year period than he had throughout his entire career. And after scoring back-to-back rear-naked choke submission victories, he doesn't intend on losing anytime soon.

Edwards' next bout will come Saturday at EliteXC's "Street Certified" card in Miami headlined by Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson versus Tank Abbott. He has been preparing diligently, though his original fight was delayed a few weeks, interfering with training. His opponent has also changed, from Kyle Bradley (Pictures) to Paul Daley (Pictures) to Edson Berto, the brother of gifted and promising boxing contender Andre Berto.

Like Edwards, Berto has reeled off two consecutive victories. But unlike his brother Andre, who uses only his fists to inflict damage, Edson is a submission specialist.

"I'm really looking forward to it because he's tough," Edwards said. "But he's also a leg-lock guy, and that's one thing I don't really like. Nobody really likes leg lock guys because all they do is sit back on these heel hooks and stuff, and it's almost pathetic. But he's a tough guy, though. He's been in some good fights and fought some good guys, so I'm really looking forward to it."

After everything Edwards has been through, he now understands the importance of winning. If he is to ever capture that elusive world title, he can't afford to lose again, especially Saturday.

"This fight game is all about winning," Edwards said. "If you go out there and do what you gotta do and take care of business and win, things will work out in the end for you. When I was winning, I started doing things wrong and things started falling apart. I just have to stay on the winning track, do what I do best: knock Berto out. If that happens and I can continue to improve and keep winning, I'll go in there and try to take that belt away from B.J. Penn (Pictures) if I can."