Leon “Rocky” Edwards defeated the long reigning champ Kamaru Usman for the welterweight belt tonight in the 5th round by headkick KO.
Leon Edwards had a come from behind KO after being dominated for the better of 4 rounds. Edwards did have success in the first round landing good shots and ultimately ending up on Kamaru’s back. Rocky was threating the former champ (Usman) with a rear-naked choke before the bell rang, ending the first round. It was from there that the former champ dominated with his heavy wrestling, mixing it up with bodyshots in between.
It is one of the greatest upsets in UFC history. Comparing to when Pena beat Nunes for the bantamweight title. Dana, doing something he rarely does, but similarly like he did before the Pena vs Nunes match. Guaranteeing them both (Nunes & Usman) a rematch before the night of the fight because the are long reigning defending champions.
Edwards has officially become the new welterweight champion, Englands second champion and the first UFC champion to come up and have trained only on english soil, and the first Jamaican born champion. Leon talked emotionally about his 4 year path, and 9 fight win streak coming into the fight after in the octagon. Leon repeated “look at me now” in excitement, holding the belt as he was speaking with Joe Rogan.
Usman did not attend the post fight press conference as Dana had referred him to the hospital to get medical attention following the brutal knockout.
