UFC 286: In his first defence of the title, Leon Edwards maintained his hold on the welterweight division by defeating Kamaru Usman by a majority decision at UFC 286. This victory brought Edwards’ winning run to 12 fights.
The British fighter won the trilogy bout at the O2 Arena in London 48-46, 48-46, and 47-47 thanks to the judges’ scores. When their third fight reached the distance, the Briton delivered the cleaner strikes.
Edwards remarked, “I knew I could go out there and take his shots. Even when he applied pressure, little changed.”
More than seven years after Usman won the first bout, they were facing off for the third time.
Edwards got off to a strong start in the first round, landing two powerful body kicks. The 31-year-faster-old’s pace alarmed Usman, but the challenger briefly knocked Edwards down in round two before the two combatants exchanged powerful strikes.
Early in the third round, Usman again pinned Edwards to the ground, and this time, Edwards was penalised for clutching the fence, which led many to assume the score was even at 28-28 going into the fourth.
The fourth round, which was as competitive, followed a similar pattern, with Edwards trying to maintain a safe distance and Usman attempting to cut the gap.
In the final round, Edwards avoided two more attempts at takedown and connected with Usman with an uppercut, but he also absorbed a blow to the body as his title defence came down to the wire.
With a kick to the Nigerian’s head and neck in the fifth round of UFC 278 in Salt Lake City in August, Edwards had put an end to Usman’s protracted tenure as champion.
Usman, 35, said to BT Sport after the fight, “I think I did enough to win the fight. I’m not done yet.”
On discussing Edwards’ victory, he also showed good sportsmanship: “I knew it was a close fight. Really good strategy. I’ve always been certain that I would run into Leon again, and I’m not done yet. I’ll see him once more.
“I’ve always praised him for all that he’s been able to do. He is identical to me. It runs in his family. Respectfully, London. You’ve got a terrific champion on your hands who is also a hell of a guy.”
For MMA fight, MMA championship, MMA live score, MMA daily score, live MMA score, daily MMA score, MMA tournament, daily MMA and other MMA news follow Livematchupdates.com.
