What we have just witnessed tonight is a true, real-life “Rocky story” displayed in front of our eyes by the new UFC Welterweight champion Leon Rocky Edwards.
UFC 278…main event… Kamaru Usman, currently pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, broke all possible records, undefeated since joining UFC in 2015, and with the title defense against Leon Rocky Edwards he will tie the longest winning streak in UFC history and stand in history books shoulder to shoulder with the great Anderson Silva.
To make all of that, he needs to defeat a guy who he already defeated several years ago
Usman was -380 betting favorite and looked like the stars had aligned for Usman to write another page in MMA history books.
If we take a look at his fighting records, we can see that this man is not making room for any mistakes.
Kamaru Usman fighting record:
| Res. | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Win | 20–1 | Colby Covington
|
Decision (unanimous) | UFC 268
|
November 6, 2021 | 5 | 5:00 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 19–1 | Jorge Masvidal
|
KO (punch) | UFC 261
|
April 24, 2021 | 2 | 1:02 | |
| Win | 18–1 | Gilbert Burns
|
TKO (punches) | UFC 258
|
February 13, 2021 | 3 | 0:34 | |
| Win | 17–1 | Jorge Masvidal
|
Decision (unanimous) | UFC 251
|
July 12, 2020 | 5 | 5:00 | |
| Win | 16–1 | Colby Covington
|
TKO (punches) | UFC 245
|
December 14, 2019 | 5 | 4:10 | |
| Win | 15–1 | Tyron Woodley
|
Decision (unanimous) | UFC 235
|
March 2, 2019 | 5 | 5:00 | |
| Win | 14–1 | Rafael dos Anjos
|
Decision (unanimous) | The Ultimate Fighter: Heavy Hitters Finale
|
November 30, 2018 | 5 | 5:00 | |
| Win | 13–1 | Demian Maia
|
Decision (unanimous) | UFC Fight Night: Maia vs. Usman
|
May 19, 2018 | 5 | 5:00 | |
| Win | 12–1 | Emil Weber Meek
|
Decision (unanimous) | UFC Fight Night: Stephens vs. Choi |
January 14, 2018 | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Win | 11–1 | Sérgio Moraes
|
KO (punch) | UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs. Bdivanch
|
September 16, 2017 | 1 | 2:48 | |
| Win | 10–1 | Sean Strickland
|
Decision (unanimous) | UFC 210
|
April 8, 2017 | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Win | 9–1 | Warlley Alves
|
Decision (unanimous) | UFC Fight Night: Bader vs. Ndivgueira 2
|
November 19, 2016 | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Win | 8–1 | Alexander Yakovlev
|
Decision (unanimous) | UFC on Fox: Holm vs. Shevchenko
|
July 23, 2016 | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Win | 7–1 | Leon Edwards
|
Decision (unanimous) | UFC on Fox: dos Anjos vs. Cowbodiv 2
|
December 19, 2015 | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Win | 6–1 | Hayder Hassan
|
Submission (arm-triangle choke) | The Ultimate Fighter: American Top Team vs. Blackzilians Finale
|
July 12, 2015 | 2 | 1:19 | |
| Win | 5–1 | Marcus Hicks
|
TKO (punches) | Legacy FC 33 | July 18, 2014 | 2 | 5:00 | |
| Win | 4–1 | Lenny Lovoto | TKO (punches) | Legacy FC 30 | April 4, 2014 | 3 | 1:04 | |
| Win | 3–1 | Steven Rodriguez | TKO (punches) | Legacy FC 27 | January 31, 2014 | 1 | 1:31 | |
| Win | 2–1 | Rashid Abdullah | TKO (punches) | VFC 41 | December 14, 2013 | 1 | 3:49 | |
| Loss | 1–1 | Jose Caceres | Submission (rear-naked choke) | CFA 11 | May 24, 2013 | 1 | 3:47 | |
| Win | 1–0 | David Glover | TKO (punches) | RFA 5 | November 30, 2012 | 2 | 4:50 |
Leon Rocky Edwards dominating first round
Leon Rocky Edwards opened the fight best way possible, he defend Kamaru’s takedown attempt, and while scrambling, he put the champion down and ended up directly into the mount position. That was first time ever, for Kamaru Usman to be taken down in his career.
Usman is fighting back, trying to escape but he just got himself in a position where Edwards holds him in a body lock, had his back, and tried to finish him by rear naked choke.
Round was over, clear 10-8 for Edwards.
Kamaru Usman is taking over fight from Leon Rocky Edwards
After first round, coach of Kamaru Usman said to him he can not make mistakes like that. “You felt him, now you know… don’t repeat that mistake”
The second round was all Kamaru Usman, he was controlling the fight, setting up his own pace… Edwards was on the “back foot” trying to defend himself from constant pressure delivered by the champion. The round finished and Kamaru start walking behind Edwards, looked like he was saying “… i have just started…”
Yes, and it did look like that, next 3 rounds were typical Kamaru Usman domination-style fights. Champion was in absolute control, Edwards just could not find the opportunity to fire the shot because there was none. The champion was holding all strings of the fight, leaving no room for the challenger.
To me, it looked like – just another not-exciting fight. I mean Kamaru was fighting a perfect fight for him, but it was not exciting to watch.
I was thinking,
“… is Kamaru doing to MMA the same thing that Klitschko did to boxing? Fighting those perfect fights, and making boxing boring to watch?
He was so dominant, that he stopped all big names in the division: Masvidal, Covington, Gilbert Burns, Rafael Dos Anjos, Tyron Woodley… and some of them he even stopped two times… he is clearly winning this fight…”
The broadcast team was writing off Leon Rocky Edwards, closing the fight and end the evening with another dominant victory by champion Kamaru Usman…
…one minute left to the end of the fight
UNBELIEVABLE!
He lands the perfect high kick, the champion goes down and it is a “walk away” knockout for LEON EDWARDS.
Against all odds, pulling the victory form jaws of defeat, he turned an already lost fight into an amazing victory… Leon Rocky Edwards is the new welterweight champion and he served us the true “Rocky story”, just in front of our eyes.
The perfect high kick by Leon Edwards
Leon Edwards was able to set up a perfect high kick, he throws the fake left jab knowing that Usman will move from the straight line to his right, and at the same time (hidden by jab), he throws a left high kick.
In a split second, Usman saw the jab coming and he blocked it with his right hand, moved his head to the right and he was out of the danger… but then he realized that the high kick is coming, his head is moving to it (making the impact even stronger) and his right hand is busy by blocking the jab.
He could not protect himself…
High kick landed, champion goes down and it s a walk away KO for Leon Edwards
