England’s Leon Edwards has knocked out Kamaru Usman to claim the UFC welterweight championship title.
Pound-for-pound No.1 Usman was looking to make the sixth defence of his title in a rematch against Edwards, seven years after the pair first met in the early stages of their UFC careers. Since outpointing Edwards in that 2015 meeting, Usman had won 13 consecutive fights whilst the Brit was unbeaten in 10 fights.
Usman wasted no time in taking Edwards down as the fight got underway, but the Brit turned the tables when he landed a takedown of his own and took Usman’s back. ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ turned up the pace in the second round and started to put together some good combinations before ending the round on top with another takedown.
It was all Usman in the third round as he dominated Edwards on the mat, mixing up his submission attempts with strikes. The Brit’s corner team urged him to try and defend Usman’s takedowns to keep the fight on the feet, but Edwards was slowing down as the rounds went on. Usman continued his relentless pressure in the final round, but out of nowhere Edwards produced a perfect high kick which left Usman out cold with referee Herb Dean instantly waving off the fight.
Edwards was overcome with emotion after the Hail Mary win, and said: “I was born in Jamaica with nothing, I lived in a wooden shack with a zinc roof. Look at me now, champion of the world. I told you I could do it. Thank you to the UFC to giving the kid that was born with nothing an opportunity to do something.”
In the co-main event, Paulo Costa spoiled Luke Rockhold’s UFC return in a back-and-forth fight. Both men were exhausted for large parts of the bout, which seemed to be over midway through the second round but replay showed that Costa landed a punch to Rockhold’s groin which caused him to go down. As the fight came to a close, Rockhold bizarrely rubbed his bloodied face on Costa whilst on top of him on the ground. Continue Reading
