With his dramatic knockout of Kamaru Usman this past Saturday at UFC 278, Leon Edwards claimed the welterweight title and in turn became just the second British fighter to win a UFC championship.
Yes, Michael Bisping did it first when he upset then-middleweight champion Luke Rockhold back in 2016, but there’s a key difference. By the time Bisping knocked out Rockhold at UFC 199, he’d already been living – and training – in Southern California for several years. Edwards, on the other hand, has remained in the U.K. his entire career and trains out of Team Renegade in Birmingham, England.
With all eyes on him during the UFC 278 post-fight news conference, that distinction was important for Edwards (20-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC) to mention unprompted.
