SALT LAKE CITY – Leon Edwards managed to unseat the top pound-for-pound fighter in the sport at UFC 278 despite feeling like he was having an off night.
Edwards (19-3 MMA, 11-2 UFC) claimed the welterweight championship from Kamaru Usman on Saturday with a shocking, come-from-behind head kick knockout in the fifth round of their headlining bout at Vivint Arena.
After starting the fight strong and winning the opening round, Usman (20-2 MMA, 15-1 UFC) picked up the pace and managed to take the middle three rounds on the scorecards. He was doing well in the final frame too, until just 56 seconds remaining in the fight when Edwards unleashed the perfect blow that forced the belt to change hands.
“Going into it, I knew it was going to be a tough fight,” Edwards told MMA Junkie and other reporters at the UFC 278 post-fight news conference. “I said it all week. But I believe I was the better man – but even though it was one my worst performances, it is what it is, I got a clean finish. … My body just wasn’t reacting the way it was meant to react. I don’t know if it was the altitude or not, but when I was backstage watching the other guys fight on TV, everyone was getting tired and gassing out. I was like, ‘Why is everyone getting tired?’ When I went out there after the first round I felt it. My body just wasn’t reacting.
“It wasn’t a cardio issue, it was just like my body wasn’t reacting. But I stayed focused, my coaches spurred me on and kept reminding me, ‘You’re still in the fight, you are the best, and fight until the end.’ That combination I was drilling with my coaches, that left-cross head kick, and it landed perfectly.”
After losing a unanimous decision to Usman at UFC on FOX 17 in December 2015, Edwards said prior to UFC 278 that he expected to even the score with his rival to set up a trilogy fight.
After scoring a clean knockout, Edwards’ stance on the situation hasn’t changed. Usman, who came into the fight with the second-longest winning streak in UFC history and five consecutive title defenses, has a strong claim for an immediate trilogy bout.
Edwards said he would like that fight to happen in his native England, and after being unhappy with his body of work at UFC 278, thinks he can deliver a more complete effort.
It’s been a long journey for “Rocky” to reach the top of the mountain, and after seeing Usman fall in the manner he did, said he’s not going to take his moment of glory for granted.
“I knew going into it that more than likely we were going to have a rematch down the line,” Edwards said. “Whether it’s next or down the line, we’re going to have a rematch. He’s been a long champion, they’re saying he’s the pound-for-pound best all week. He was saying that he was the pound-for-pound best. He believed it, and as I said in the octagon, the belt doesn’t belong to nobody. It doesn’t belong to me or nobody. No man is meant to hold the belt for that long, and I said it all week that I felt like this was my moment. This is how it was meant to play out. All the layoff, all the COVID, that’s how it was meant to play out.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 278.
