Leon Edwards is one of the best fighters in the UFC’s welterweight division. He made his MMA debut in 2011 against Damian Zlotnicki. He won the bout via a first-round TKO. Since then, Leon has never looked back and continued to make his way through the British MMA scene. In his first 9 fights, the future welterweight never stepped a foot outside the UK.
However, he did not go unbeaten during his first 9 bouts. Leon Edwards lost to Delroy McDowell on February 25, 2022. But as opposed to being dominated in the bout. Edwards lost after landing an illegal knee on his opponent. In his 9th bout, Leon beat Shaun Taylor via 3rd round KO win in September 2014. It was his last bout outside the UFC, as Edwards made his UFC debut in November 2014. Here’s a look at the losses Edwards has suffered in the UFC.
Leon Edwards vs Claudio Silva: What really happened?
Leon Edwards made his UFC debut against Claudio Silva on November 8, 2014. Coming into the bout, Edwards had an MMA record of 8-1. He also had 6 finishes in his career by then. But Edwards’ much-hyped debut disappointed the fans as he lost the bout via split decision. Claudio pretty much out-fought Edwards during their bout.
As per UFC stats, Claudio landed a total of 98 strikes out of an attempted 162 strikes. Out of the total strikes, Claudio “Hannibal” Silva managed to land 34 significant strikes. As opposed to that, Leon only landed a total of 42 strikes, with 33 significant strikes. Silva also managed to secure 3 takedowns and attempted 1 submission. Ultimately two judges had the fight 29-28 for Silva, and one judge had it 28-29 for Edwards.
Leon Edwards vs Kamaru Usman 1: What really happened?
Following his first loss to Claudio Silva, Leon Edwards went on to beat Pawel Pawlak and Seth Baczynski successively. However, he then ran into Kamaru Usman on May 8, 2016. Although they would go on to have a legendary fight in 2022, their 2016 bout was a rather one-sided one. It was Usman’s second fight in the UFC, while Leon was just about to have his fourth UFC fight.
On the night, Usman out-struck Edwards with 126 total strikes to 36! In terms of significant strikes, Usman landed 48 significant strikes as opposed to Leon’s 26. Usman also landed a total of 6 takedowns and had a control time of 10:50 minutes. It pretty much sums up how one-sided the bout was. Usman won via a unanimous decision with all three judges scoring the bout 30-27. Fortunately, Leon went on to win 8 fights in a row and is unbeaten for 11 fights.
Rocky avenged his loss to Kamaru Usman in August 2022, at UFC 278. Although the bout was heading for a similar conclusion similar to their first encounter, Leon turned it around with a massive head kick with just 56 seconds remaining on the clock. With the win, not only did he win the welterweight belt, but he also set up a trilogy bout against Kamaru at UFC 286, which took place in London.
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