Dana White is not willing to let Chael Sonnen bash Leon Edwards following his title win.
UFC 278 was an amazing event that saw the longtime champion Kamaru Usman lose in the last few seconds of his title fight. Although the majority of chatter about the fight is showcasing the fact that Usman lost, not too much focus has been on Leon Edwards and his win. Edwards came back from being behind on the cards to land a perfect head kick KO on Usman. Afterward, there were some criticisms of Edwards’s performance from a man who never holds back, Chael Sonnen.
Sonnen is a former fighter who now breaks down fights on his YouTube channel among over avenues. Following the UFC 278 title fight, Sonnen took to his platform to discuss how he thought Leon Edwards cheated in that bout.
“Leon cheated in that match a whole bunch of times,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel h/t MMA Junkie. “That is not a headline or a topic that is out there anywhere. Leon was frustrated in positions and had no way out of positions to the extent that he cheated repeatedly. Not once – not an accident, not the ref didn’t see it. The ref saw it, the ref warned him, the ref saw it again, the ref stepped in, the ref broke the action five and six times.
Dana White will not allow accusations of cheating about his new champion
Edwards has been in the UFC a long time and this was his first shot at a UFC title. He played it perfectly and landed a great shot to take out the champion. Usman had defended his title five times before falling to Edwards. This is an accomplishment that UFC President Dana White feels should not be diminished. He will not stand by and let Sonnen bash his new champion.
“He became champion with a head kick,” White said in a Contenders Series presser. “He didn’t win by grabbing the fence. that’s completely unfair of Chael Sonnen to say that. That kid sucked it up, dug down deep and landed literally the perfect head kick with like a minute left in the fight. So I would say that that’s silly, ridiculous and absolutely unfair to say about Leon.”
There have already been discussions about running that UFC 278 main event back again. Both fighters are interested in the trilogy fight and perhaps all doubts can be laid to rest now that both Usman and Edwards have a win over each other.