Leon Edwards: Execution via Head Kick
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It’s been a long road for the Jamaican native who grew up in Birmingham, England. Leon Edwards has faced hardships at every corner of his life. Just when he reached puberty, his father was murdered at a night club.
It didn’t take Leon long to follow suit of his father and he took to a criminal life. He was involved in drug dealing, street fighting and weapon possession until he stepped into a MMA gym at the age of 17.
Leon had a smooth road to the UFC. He gathered a record of 8 wins and 1 loss prior to entering the UFC. With all of his wins besides two coming to a finish, expectations were high for Leon coming into his debut. Unfortunately for him, Claudio Silva spoiled his debut and beat him by split decision.
Five months later Leon stormed his way through Seth Baczynski by knocking him out in 8 seconds flat. Rocky’s here to stay.
Like many more of his UFC fights, he won his next one by decision until he ran into future welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. Usman beat Leon to a decision. That didn’t stop Leon, in fact, that added fuel to the flame.
Leon took that loss and marched his way to a title shot by going on a 9 fight win streak (10 fight undefeated streak). These wins didn’t come without trials and tribulations, however.
Come the year 2020, COVID-19 shut the whole world down. This caused a previously scheduled bout with former champion Tyron Woodley to be canceled. Yes, the same fight that Gilbert Burns was able to fill in for, won, and received a title shot off of.
Around this time is when Leon was removed from the welterweight rankings and basically bullied into a fight with an unranked Khamzat Chimaev. An attempted bout with Khamzat was scheduled 9 months later, but, of course, Leon tested positive for COVID-19 and the bout was canceled. A second attempt a month later was again, canceled due to Khamzat recovering from COVID-19. Third time’s the charm? Think again. Two months later a third and final scheduled bout with Khamzat was canceled because of Khamzat’s lingering COVID effects.
Luckily, Belal Muhammad was able to fill in for Khamzat and give Leon an opportunity to step in the cage for the first time in a year and a half. Remember how I mentioned that Leon can never catch a break and there’s always something to put a bump in his road? If you couldn’t tell with the lay off and multiple canceled fights, maybe you can tell when you see the result of Belal and Leon. No contest due to eye pokes. Yes, the fight only lasted less than two rounds, but Leon was clearly in control. A win waiting to happen so long as he didn’t do anything stupid.
Another canceled fight with Nate Diaz two months later. Though, Nate being the gangster he is, schedules to fight Leon another month later and shows up ready to go. Leon ultimately won the fight but not without controversy. Deep into the fight, Nate caught him with a good Stockton Slap followed by a left cross that wobbled Leon badly. Everyone watching thought Nate was about to pull off an upset. Rocky weathered the storm and took his decision win home with him.
One more canceled bout against Jorge Masvidal to top off 2021 as well.
At this time, Leon’s past opponent, Kamaru Usman, has been cementing his name as one of the welterweight greats. Since their fight, he gathered wins over Warlley Alves, Sean Strickland, Emil Meek, Demian Maia, Rafael Dos Anjos, Tyron Woodley, Colby Covington twice, Jorge Masvidal twice and Gilbert Burns. Usman has been on a terror beating multiple top welterweight contenders left, right, front and center. No one has even been able to put a dent in his armor.
With the Leon Edwards vs Kamaru Usman 2 announcement for the welterweight championship rolled in, so did the doubters. Even though the Vegas odds only had Kamaru at a -375 favorite, you’d find a lot more people who said Leon didn’t have a chance. Comment sections everywhere, forum threads, anywhere you could look for MMA opinions, there was somebody doubting Leon. Could you blame them? Leon truthfully hasn’t beaten too many welterweight contenders at this point. Usman has dominated them all.
That didn’t bother Leon. Leon knew from the start he was going to win. He became the first man to take down Usman. Most people had Usman dominating Leon, or at the very least, beating him, Leon never lost hope. Entering the fifth round, down on the scorecards, Rocky knew he had to make something happen. And so he did. Left high kick slumped the champion and Leon became the first man to knock out Kamaru Usman as well.
Pound for pound, head shot, dead. That’s it.
As most paths for UFC champions, it wasn’t easy. It was long. It was hard. Leon’s seemed harder than most, not necessarily opponent wise or difficulty of fights. The doubt, the constant pushback from the UFC and MMA fans in general, growing up the way he did. Leon’s life has been nothing but hardships. But Rocky finally got the gold in the end.
Leon “Rocky” Edwards, your welterweight champion of the world.
