Leon Edwards extended his winning streak to seven fights on Saturday when he defeated Gunnar Nelson in the UFC on ESPN+ 5 co-main event.
Edwards’ (17-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) climb toward welterweight title contention took another big step forward with his split decision victory over Nelson (17-4-1 MMA, 8-4 UFC) in the co-headlining bout, which took place at The O2 in London and streamed on ESPN+.
Check below for the top Twitter reactions to Edwards’ victory over Nelson at UFC on ESPN+ 5.
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It's time for the #UFCLondon co-headliner between welterweight contenders @Leon_EdwardsMMA and @GunniNelson.
Full play-by-play: https://t.co/xawZ57BOtf pic.twitter.com/ItDu2UGJCo
— MMA Junkie (@MMAjunkie) March 16, 2019
Gunnar Nelson out to "Way Down We Go" by Kaleo (great band from his native Iceland).
Leon Edwards to "Grindin All My Life" by Nipsey Hussle#UFCLondon
— Damon Martin (@DamonMartin) March 16, 2019
#UFConESPN+ 5 Closing Betting Odds: Leon Edwards (-145) vs. Gunnar Nelson (+125) #UFCLondon 💵 @ESPN+ @JohnGoodenUK @danhardymma @felderpaul @espnmma @ufc @MMAOddsBreaker
— Nick Kalikas (@FightOdds) March 16, 2019
How you gonna get booed in your home country? Poor Edwards.
— John Morgan (@MMAjunkieJohn) March 16, 2019
Everyone loves Gunnar Nelson, even when fighting a hometown boy! #UFCLondon pic.twitter.com/6s82bBRfw4
— The Mane Event™ (@EliasTheodorou) March 16, 2019
Edwards is threatening with a rear-naked choke, but Gunni senses it and defends it perfectly #UFCLondon
— Sherdog by Mandatory (@sherdogdotcom) March 16, 2019
Can’t wait to break down Gunnar Nelson’s grappling on the next podcast episode! 🙌🏾 His technique beautiful to watch, especially as the smaller man at 170. But Leon Edwards challenging him and making him work hard for those TDs and strong half-back Mount. RD 1 Edwards.#UFCLondon
— Aljamain Sterling (@FunkMaster_UFC) March 16, 2019
Leon Edwards is fearless. Paul Felder's gotta respect the guts it takes to grapple aggressively against a dangerous submission artist like Gunnar Nelson. Edwards likely won that round
— King Typo (@BoxingBusch) March 16, 2019
After being taken down a few times, Edwards gets Gunnar down, but prob doesn't want to stay there too long. #ufclondon pic.twitter.com/AoMpLJGg1L
— The Mane Event™ (@EliasTheodorou) March 16, 2019
No hand wraps on Gunnar Nelson, as per usual. #UFCLondon
— Seán Sheehan (@SeanSheehanBA) March 16, 2019
10-9 Edwards R1
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) March 16, 2019
Edwards is really strong and I don't think Gunnar expected that.
— Mookie Alexander (@mookiealexander) March 16, 2019
Leon Edwards would just be an enormous pain in the ass to fight. Solid everywhere, strong as hell, and smart.
— Jed Meshew II (@JedKMeshew) March 16, 2019
OOOOOOHHH!
Gunnar goes down and hangs on as we head to round 2️⃣! #UFCLondon pic.twitter.com/O4e5UtKppH
— UFC (@ufc) March 16, 2019
Left elbow drops Gunnar Nelson in the second round! Bad swelling near his right eye! Saved by the bell. Leon Edwards up 2-0 going into the third. What an elbow! My word.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) March 16, 2019
Gunnar gets dropped and hurt. Eye looks busted up as well!!! #ufclondon pic.twitter.com/5uqqfSGfX0
— The Mane Event™ (@EliasTheodorou) March 16, 2019
DAMN!!!! Those elbows were landing HARD from Edwards! #UFCLondon
— Aljamain Sterling (@FunkMaster_UFC) March 16, 2019
Gunnar Nelson between rounds: “What was the shot?”
That’s … a bad sign#UFCLondon
— Phil Murphy (@Phil_Sports) March 16, 2019
"Gunni isn't interested in stats." Cool. He's -41 in significant strikes unofficially after two rounds. #UFCLondon
— Michael Carroll (@MJCflipdascript) March 16, 2019
Unbelievably impressed by Leon Edwards. How he’s managed to contain Gunni is outstanding. Two rounds in the bag for Edwards. #UFCLondon
— Harry Williams (@Harry_Williams) March 16, 2019
Gunni pops Edwards with a nice right to the head and finally takes him down with about a minute left. Nelson quickly moves to full mount. #UFCLondon
— Sherdog by Mandatory (@sherdogdotcom) March 16, 2019
Nice dummy-mount from Nelson there
— Dan Tom (@DanTomMMA) March 16, 2019
Better work fast!!!
— Julie Kedzie (@julesk_fighter) March 16, 2019
Gunnar finishes the round on top, but Leon will get the nod, and rightfully so. #ufclondon pic.twitter.com/3awsaUKSmI
— The Mane Event™ (@EliasTheodorou) March 16, 2019
Wait, one of these judges actually scored the fight for Gunnar Nelson? Good lord. All bets are off on scorecards in the main event.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) March 16, 2019
That would have been highway robbery of Nelson got the nod
— Dave Doyle (@davedoylemma) March 16, 2019
Leon Edwards: "I'm on a 7-fight win streak in the hardest division in the sport. Put some respect on my name. I want the winner of the main event. That should've been my fight." #UFCLondon
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) March 16, 2019
LONGEST ACTIVE UFC WIN STREAKS – Welterweight
10 – Kamaru Usman
07 – Leon Edwards
07 – Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
07 – Santiago Ponzinibbio
06 – Colby Covington#UFCLondon— Michael Carroll (@MJCflipdascript) March 16, 2019
#UFCLondon results: Leon Edwards (@Leon_EdwardsMMA) survives late charge to take split over Gunnar Nelson https://t.co/TmJa7IbRuV
— MMA Junkie (@MMAjunkie) March 16, 2019
For complete coverage of UFC on ESPN+ 5, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
