The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight champion Leon Edwards is looking forward to defending his title against Nigeria’s heavy-hitter Kamaru Usman in the UFC 286 event on March 18 at the O2 Arena in London.
The two fighters’ history began in 2015 when Kamaru made his UFC debut and defeated the British fighter by a unanimous decision.
However, the second bout had an entirely different outcome, as Edwards overcame the dominant Nigerian with a fifth-round knockout in their UFC 278 fight in August 2022 to become the new welterweight champion, securing an unexpected comeback victory after being down on all three judges’ scorecard.
He became just the second British UFC champion in history, after Michael Bisping, who won the middleweight title in 2016.
In an interview with Sky Sports, the 31-year-old reflects on his title win while confirming he didn’t have the best of fights but was happy he came out victorious.
Albeit all of those circumstances, the British fighter emerged as champion and is eager to defend his championship against the “Nigerian Nightmare” in London in March.
“Training for the first time was in Birmingham, where it was 100; in Utah, it’s like 4,000 above sea level! and then 7,000 in Colorado! This body is not used to it. So, after the first round, my body was not reacting how it normally would react,” he said.
“I’m very excited; it’s my first defence, back in London…I want to go out there and do what needs to be done and gain victory,” Edwards revealed.
Edwards, who is also the first Jamaican-born champion in UFC history, is relishing his chances against Kamaru and has promised to take the fight to the wire if necessary.
“If I was in his [Usman’s] shoes, I’d probably be like, ‘I was going to win that last fight, and then I got caught’. But it doesn’t matter; at the end of the day, he got knocked out. Until the bell goes, nobody wins, that’s my mentality,” he said.
With the fight fast approaching, the Brit seems to be unfazed and looks to be keeping a calm head he prepares to fight on his home turf, in front of his own fans, and also revealed he is past the ‘upcoming fighter’ tag he always carried.
“I’ve had a pretty steady rise in my career, which means I’ve got good at figuring out things that do and don’t make me comfortable.”
“I put me and my family in an Airbnb last time, and it was so much better than being in the final room with the media, you can relax and banter with the team,” he added.
“I’ve proven myself time and time again; it’s about carrying on proving it and seeing how far I can take this,” the champion concluded.
