UFC 286: Edwards wins trilogy against Usman

Title defense at UFC 286
Leon Edwards wins iconic cage trilogy

By Michael Bauer, London
03/19/2023, 02:05 am

A raging arena in London sees a thrilling main event at UFC 286 – complete with a happy ending. Champion Leon Edwards uses his home advantage, but has to worry after a point deduction in the referee’s verdict.

The trilogy between Leon “Rocky” Edwards and Kamaru Usman comes to an end at UFC 286 in London – with the reigning welterweight champion living up to his nickname. In a cinematic third meeting, the Briton won by majority decision 48-46, 48-46 and 47-47. A point deduction almost cost the title.

The spectacular last-minute knockout in the second meeting in Salt Lake City was still an issue in London about seven months later. “Headshot, dead!” Edwards yelled into the microphone with a headkick after his victory, the fans in England chanted the two words like a battle cry throughout the fight in the 02 Arena, which was sold out with more than 17,000 seats.

In round one, both welterweights were still reluctant to get involved. Again and again the blows landed in the opponent’s cover, the 31-year-old Edwards knew how to score with kicks against Usman’s legs. The Brit avoided kicks to the head for a long time, but with a body kick he almost knocked Usman off his feet in the middle of the lap. For the 35-year-old Nigerian, that was the signal to throw in a level change – he tried to pull Edwards down, who couldn’t be brought down. In the clinch, referee Herb Dean warns the Brits – he is said to have grabbed his opponent’s gloves.

In the second round, Edwards set accents, especially with his jab, and he repeatedly threw in front kicks. The champion followed up that round and was able to knock Usman off balance again with a knee to the head. Again, the challenger started a takedown and was able to bring Edwards down at times. The third round caused the great excitement of the fight: After another takedown attempt by Usman, both fighters landed on the edge of the octagon. As Usman attempted to drag his opponent back to the center of the ring, Edwards grabbed hold of the cage – a clear violation of the rules that earned the champion a point deduction. Usman dominated the round to the end and landed the better hits.

In the last two rounds, Usman presented himself extremely one-sided. The Nigerian focused on getting the fight to the ground but kept falling short of champion Edwards’ takedown defenses. For his part, he always had the better ideas in a direct exchange of blows, often varying between kicks and punches – at the end of the day the Briton had a crazy hit rate of 74 percent.

“I think I’ve shown that I’ve improved by leaps and bounds,” Edwards said after his win. Usman is the toughest opponent in his weight class. Defending the title in front of a home crowd was a dream for the Brit.

Gaethje wins in cage “fireworks”

In the second main fight of the evening, Justin Gaethje prevailed against Rafael Fiziev. The duel between two technically strong strikers was the fireworks promised by the UFC, which surprisingly went the full distance.

The American Gaethje had the better and more effective game plan. With strong jabs and leg kicks, he hit the Azerbaijani more and more from round to round. In round three, Geathje even managed a takedown shortly before the end.

The 34-year-old could have entered the race as a contender for a title fight in the hard-fought lightweight class with champion Islam Makhachev. After the Russian’s superfight against featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski in February, Gaethje would be a suitable opponent. With Beneil Dariush and ex-champ Charles Oliveira two other candidates meet in May, but the time frame would suit Gaethje better.