Britain’s Leon Edwards has emerged victorious after a gruelling five-round battle with Kamaru Usman to retain his welterweight title, scoring a majority resolution win on the judges’ scorecards at UFC 286 in London.
Edwards beat Usman in sensational trend when the 2 met in Salt Lake City in August final yr, knocking the Nigerian out with a spectacular fifth-round head kick to say the title, however Usman was rapidly granted a re-match.
This time, the combat was to be on house soil for Edwards, and London’s O2 Arena gave him a hero’s welcome as he entered the octagon on Saturday night time.
The crowd chanted his “Rocky” nickname as he circled his opponent first spherical, choosing his pictures and touchdown heavy physique kicks in direction of the tip of the body.
Famed for his excellent wrestling abilities, Usman bought Edwards to the mat twice halfway via the second spherical, however every time the Jamaican-born Briton managed to scramble again to his toes.
Usman had his opponent on the bottom once more early within the third spherical, and referee Herb Dean deducted a degree from Edwards for grabbing the fence as he tried to get again up.
With the 2 fighters tiring, the fourth spherical became a cagey affair as Usman pressured and Edwards continued to assault the physique with kicks, hoping to arrange the identical head kick end that completed their earlier encounter.
Edwards uncorked that actual kick twice early within the ultimate spherical however this time Usman emerged unscathed. Undeterred, Edwards continued mixing his physique pictures with some vicious uppercuts and good defensive wrestling to finally thwart his opponent.
In the co-main occasion, American Justin Gaethje scored a majority resolution victory over fellow light-weight Rafael Fiziev of Kazakhstan after an exhilarating three-round show of high-level hanging from each males.
