Aljamain Sterling believes there is a path to victory for Leon Edwards to beat Kamaru Usman again but it is easier said than done.
Back in August at UFC 278, Edwards shocked many when he scored a fifth-round head kick KO of Usman with less than a minute left to win the welterweight title. Usman was clearly winning the fight up until the head kick which is why they are running it back at UFC 286 in the trilogy match.
Ahead of the trilogy fight, Kamaru Usman is the betting favorite and Aljamain Sterling agrees with that as he thinks Usman showed he has the tools to win. But, the bantamweight champ believes if Edwards can break Usman’s focus and land some big shots early he can win the fight and defend his belt.
‘You Have To Wonder If You Can Break Focus’
“You have to grind for 25 minutes and hope you are diligent enough, focused enough, making sure you are disciplined, not making your hands drop, not getting into a shootout war and not making a mistake from the technical side and getting caught again,” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “That makes me want to lean to the side of Usman. But, again, you have to wonder if you can break focus he did it a couple of times in the fight and it just so happens to be that one head kick, in the last minute of the fight…
“Can ‘Rocky’ maintain the distance in the range and land some shots that count for something? That is going to discourage his opponent from shooting and try and get to Usman,” Sterling continued. “I don’t know. I can’t give you guys a bet or a pick on that one, I like both these guys, two badasses and may the best man win.”
In the rematch at UFC 278, Leon Edwards did take Kamaru Usman down and showed he can grapple with the former champ. As well, Edwards stuffed seven takedown attempts which is what Sterling thinks he needs to do if he is going to keep the belt.
As for Aljamain Sterling, he is set to headline UFC 288 on May 6 in Newark, New Jersey as he defends his bantamweight title against Henry Cejudo.