Leon Edwards won an upset over pound-for-pound champion Kamaru Usman with a headkick.
The Early Days
Leon was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1991. Since he was a kid he was surrounded by crime, so it was no surprise when he himself was involved in questionable activities, the same as his father.
Edwards family moved to England when he was 9 years old. His father was shot in a nightclub when Leon was only 14 years old.
Edwards started his MMA career in 2008 when his mother convinced him to join a MMA club. He started competing in 2010 and made his professional MMA debut in 2011. Edwards fought in various smaller promotions in England and Wales before finally making his way to the UFC in 2014. His early UFC years were marked by ups and downs.
Edwards enters the UFC
He had some impressive wins, but also suffered some tough losses. He ended his second UFC fight with an 8 second knockout which is to this day the sixth fastest knockout in the history of the organisation. Edwards then faced Usman in 2015 to which he lost via unanimous decision. However, Edwards kept pushing forward and slowly started to make a name for himself in the UFC.
The Breakthrough
Edwards really started to turn heads when he put together a win after win which is still unroken to this day with 10 wins and one no contect. This impressive run included wins over some very tough competition like Donald Cerrone, Rafael dos Anjos, and Nick Diaz. By the end of 2018, Edwards was ranked as the number five welterweight in the world and was clearly on the cusp of greatness.
Edwards didnt fight for two straight years due to 5 out of the 6 fights getting cancelled mostly due to Leon or his opponents catching Covid-19. However he finally managed to get a fight, in the begining of 2021 versus Belal Muhammad which was ruled a no contest due to an accidental eye poke.
The Second Usman Fight
And then came the Kamaru Usman fight. Edwards entered the bout as a massive underdog, but he quickly proved that he belonged in the octagon with the pound-for-pound king. He put on a solid performance, capped off by that headkick knockout in the fifth round.
His comment which really made him grow in the eyes of the fans: "Pound-for-pound headshot" was a way to shut up the Usman fans and Usman himself, and it showed that Edwards has the true confidence of a champion.
There is no doubt that Edwards is one of the best welterweights in the world right now, and he will be looking to make his first title defense in the near future, probably a trilogy against Kamaru Usman. He has already shown that he can beat the best fighters in the world, and there is no reason why he can't keep the UFC welterweight title for a good while.
His nickname Rocky is also very well suited, which is quite hard to live up to, but Edwards has definitely proved that he is one of the best fighters in the UFC. He was given this nickname by a high school friend due to overcoming many obstacles both in his professional and private life. We hope to see Rocky hold the throne for the foreseeable future.
