Leon Edwards responded to Kamaru Usman’s threats made during a recent interview.
With only a few days until UFC 286, the tension between Edwards and Usman is building ahead of their trilogy fight. Although they were never friends, the relationship between the top 170-pounders seemed mostly cordial before things escalated quickly. Earlier in the week, ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ did an interview with Sky Sports and had this to say about the reigning welterweight champion:
“I’ve never been disrespectful with Leon. If anything, I’ve been the only guy who’s given him respect all throughout his career and so, I’ve never been disrespectful and I’m not gonna start now. He hasn’t said… Well, he’s said a couple things now that have offended me, but I’ll talk to him about that on Saturday night.”
It’s unclear what Edwards said that made Usman feel disrespected. During an interview on Daniel Cormier’s YouTube channel, the former two-division UFC champion asked ‘Rocky’ about the situation. He responded by saying:
“I don’t know. He’s probably just upset about the memes, the memes going around. After the fight, all the memes and all the posts and everything. I don’t even know what I said. Who cares. At the end of the day, he couldn’t finish me on my worst day. That was one of my worst performances of my career and damage-wise, there wasn’t much damage.” [10:22-10:50]
Leon Edwards believes Kamaru Usman isn’t as good as he thinks
Before losing against Leon Edwards at UFC 278, Kamaru Usman was arguably the number one pound-for-pound fighter on the planet. With that said, Edwards believes ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ isn’t as good as he thinks. During the same interview with Daniel Cormier, ‘Rocky’ had this to say when asked if Usman hit hard:
“He hits hard enough where you have to respect his power, for sure, but it doesn’t stand out like wow. Like I said, I think he’s good, but I just don’t think he’s as good as he thinks he is.”
On March 18, Edwards and Usman look to capitalize on a career-defining moment. Both fighters have defeated the other, and the rubber match will determine who wins the series. ‘Rocky’ has the advantage this time, with added confidence coming from being the champion and fighting in front of his hometown crowd. Meanwhile, ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ is motivated to avenge the blemish on his legacy.
