- Leon Edwards explained why Kamaru Usman being ahead of him in the pound-for-pound rankings doesn’t make sense
- “Rocky” thinks “The Nigerian Nightmare” was overconfident during their last fight
Leon Edwards is just days away from defending his UFC welterweight title in a trilogy bout with Kamaru Usman at UFC 286. However, “Rocky” still found some time to answer some of the fans’ questions on social media, including why is he still behind Usman in the pound-for-pound rankings despite knocking the guy out.
The real champ
Edwards went undercover on GQ and shared his honest take on his spot in the pound-for-pound rankings.
“I don’t know how it makes sense even to me you know like how do you go from knocking someone out cold and then him still being above you in the pound-for-pound rankings but all that matters is that I can’t knock out it’s on TV and everyone can see it,” Edwards said.
When asked about his thoughts on Usman still claiming he is the real champion, “Rocky” insisted that his KO win speaks for itself.
“You can think what you want to think but the proof is this in the pudding and like I said I’m the champ and that’s it. He keeps going around saying, “We all know the champ is” yeah the guy that knocked you out, that’s who the champ is,” he added.
Overconfidence destroyed Kamaru
Edwards also explained how he was able to beat the odds and knock “The Nigerian Nightmare” out. According to the reigning champ, he thought Usman came in overconfident and he, on the other hand, remain focused on winning.
“I feel like he wasn’t as focused as he should be. Being undefeated for eight years, never been taken down, that comes with a little bit of arrogance. I think before that he thought that he couldn’t be beaten and my sole objective was to win the fight I had no other distractions. Because in fights, you can pick up like little signs on that you can use and plus one of his things that he reacts to big punches you know and I landed it perfectly,” Edwards explained.
Edwards and Usman will take on each other for the third time at UFC 286. It can be recalled that Edwards ended Usman’s reign as the welterweight champ when he viciously knocked him out with a head kick at UFC 278. The win also served as Edwards’ revenge, having lost to “The Nigerian Nightmare” via decision in 2015.
Ahead of the rubber match, “The Nigerian Nightmare” vowed to prove that he is still the best and “Rocky” is “less than.” On the other hand, Edwards doesn’t see anything in Usman’s arsenal that could dethrone him.
