Leon Edwards may be one fight away from the prize he covets: the UFC welterweight title.
And on his way to the belt, Edwards wants nothing more than to avenge his loss to current welterweight champion Kamaru Usman.
Since losing to Usman via unanimous decision at in December 2015, Edwards (18-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) has since won eight straight fights. He has beaten the likes of Donald Cerrone, Gunnar Nelson and, most recently, Rafael dos Anjos, cementing his place in the race for title contention.
It appears, however, that Usman’s next fight is set, as former interim welterweight champion Colby Covington took a one-sided decision over Robbie Lawler at this past week’s UFC on ESPN 5.
Edwards, for his part, sees similarities in their games but gives the edge to the champion.
“They’re probably similar fighters,” Edwards told MMA Junkie. “All right strikers – I’ll probably give Kamaru a little more power – wrestlers, crap jiu-jitsu; they’re pretty much the same fighter. I’ll probably edge Kamaru just because he’s got a little more pop in his punches than Colby. Yeah, probably Kamaru.”
For Edwards, who’s only lost twice in the UFC, it would make for a Cinderella-like story to capture the title from the last guy who beat him.
“Yeah, 100 percent, for me, that would be my dream scenario,” Edwards said. “For him to still have the title and the last guy to beat me, three or four years ago, to get the belt off him, that would be my dream scenario.”
“I feel like I’m getting a bit more respect, especially in my last two fights, Gunnar Nelson and ‘RDA.’ I feel the fans and the UFC started coming around and seeing that I’m one of the best fighters. It was good to go against a guy like ‘RDA,’ former world champion, defending champion and did what I did.”
