Leon Edwards has endured countless instances of bad luck in what appears to have been a cursed UFC career, but he can put all of that behind him by dethroning pound-for-pound king Kamaru Usman tonight.
Edwards, 30, rematches welterweight champion Usman in the main event of UFC 278 in Salt Lake City with a second fight between the two in the making ever since Usman outpointed 'Rocky' when both men where in the early stages of their UFC careers. Since that meeting, Usman has won 13 consecutive fights since that meeting whilst Edwards is unbeaten in his last 10 bouts.
Usman has cruised past most of his opponents during his impressive run at 170lb. 'The Nigerian Nightmare' is a vastly different fighter compared to his 2015 meeting with Edwards, developing a newfound love for his striking which secured him knockout wins over top contenders Jorge Masvidal and Gilbert Burns.
Edwards has been patiently waiting for his shot at the belt and has not fought for over a year. Here, we take a closer look at the Brit's journey to UFC title contention...
1. Early life
Edwards grew up in small neighbourhood of Jamaica's capital, Kingston. Despite living a normal life alongside his younger brother Fabian, the area he lived in was fuelled by crime with Edwards' dad being the leader of a local gang. Edwards moved to Birmingham with his brother and mum, but their dad stayed behind in Kingston. When Edwards was just 13, his father's life of crime caught up to him as he was tragically shot and killed in a nightclub.
"I knew what he was involved in, so I knew eventually something would happen to my dad," Edwards told BBC. “When it's a late phone call you know it's something bad. It was a traumatic situation. It wasn't like he died in his sleep, he got murdered. It was like a spiral effect; it definitely made me more angry and more willing to partake in that life. It pushed me into a life of crime."
Edwards admitted it was hard to stay out of trouble in Birmingham, with a feud between The Burger Bar Boys and Johnson Crew ever-present in the city during his teenage years. Hanging around with the crowd eventually had Edwards in hot water, as he was arrested for fighting and being in possession of a knife.
"I was arrested a few times, for fights and having a knife. My mum had to come to the police station many times to get me out. I knew what I was doing was breaking her heart, but I just kept doing it because your friends are doing it and as a teenager you're just involved. At the time your brain is so diluted and so focused you think this is life, and this is your world. You can't see outside of it."
Who wins at UFC 278 - Kamaru Usman or Leon Edwards? Let us know your prediction in the comments section below
2. Finding MMA
Things changed when Edwards started training MMA the age of 17, making his professional debut two years later. The Brit racked up six wins in the space of 18 months before challenging for the title in BAMMA, a now defunct UK promotion. Edwards put himself on the UFC's radar when he won and defended his BAMMA belt, eventually being signed to the big league in 2014.
Edwards has only suffered two UFC defeats and they came in the space of 13 months when he was starting out in the promotion. 'Rocky' lost a hard-fought split decision to UFC veteran Claudio Silva in his debut, but rebounded in spectacular fashion by knocking out Seth Baczynski in just eight seconds in his next fight. The knockout is still to this day one of the quickest wins in UFC history.
It's hard to think a welterweight clash buried on the prelims of a Fight Night event would eventually produce two of the best fighters in the world, but that's what happened when Usman and Edwards met in 2015. Usman headed into the fight fresh off of his season 21 win of The Ultimate Fighter whilst Edwards was on a two-fight winning streak, but it was Usman who won a unanimous decision on the night.
3. String of bad luck
In the past few years, Edwards has been unable to catch a break in the UFC. His string of bad luck started two years ago, when he was booked in the biggest fight of his career at the time against former champion Tyron Woodley. Edwards was scheduled to headline a Fight Night event in his home country against Woodley, but was denied of the opportunity due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
After over 400 days away from the cage, Edwards was removed from the welterweight rankings due to inactivity. He was booked to return against rising star Khamzat Chimaev. The fight was never meant to be, as it was cancelled three times due to both Edwards and Chimaev suffering from Covid-19.
Edwards went on to fight Belal Muhammad after almost a two-year absence, but the fight ended in disaster as Muhammad was unable to continue due to accidental eye poke. It seemed that Edwards' bad luck couldn't get any worse, but when he finally picked up a win against Nate Diaz last June it was overshadowed by Diaz almost finishing the Brit with a flurry in the dying seconds.
UFC boss Dana White recently addressed Edwards' bad luck, as he told Yahoo Sports : "Edwards has just had a string of bad luck, everything that could go wrong, has gone wrong. He's going into a situation now where he has the opportunity to write his own storybook ending, if he can go in and derail Kamaru Usman."
4. Britain's second UFC champion?
The opportunity to dethrone Usman means much than just becoming a UFC champion to Edwards. If he is to beat the pound-for-pound No.1, Edwards will be just the second British and the first Jamaican-born champion in promotional history. Michael Bisping remains the only Brit to ever win a UFC world title, knocking out Luke Rockhold six years ago to achieve the feat.
Edwards said of the chance to become the second British UFC champion: "It would be amazing and I'll also I would be the first Jamaican-born UFC champion as well after Saturday night, so I'm making history on both sides. It's gonna be amazing who grew up the way I grew up, for people from the same background as me. It will be an amazing accomplishment and Saturday night, that will come true."
'Rocky' is also hoping a UFC title win can inspire his fellow countrymen and produce a new wave of champions from the UK, adding: "To have a guy from Birmingham achieve what I'm about to achieve, it can only help to spur other British guys on in the sport. It can help them have more confidence in being from the UK and beating these other guys."
