UFC 286 lived up to all its hype and then some. The promotion delivered one of the most stacked cards of the year right from inside London’s O2 Arena as the Brits showed up with near-deafening cheers. Hometown boy Leon ‘Rocky’ Edwards reigned supreme as he secured a decisive victory over his long-time rival Kamaru Usman. Post the trilogy bout, Leon is now 2-1 over ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’.
However, recently Leon Edwards’ dietician Jordan Sullivan took a jibe at UFC’s newest sponsored drink PRIME. Sullivan posted a reel on his Instagram detailing Edwards’ diet in order to rehydrate after the official weigh-ins, where he lashed out at the drink’s inability to help fighters rehydrate.
The same dietician then posted a reel showcasing the food Leon consumed on the day of his UFC 286 title defense. It was good to take a sneak peek behind the welterweight champion’s food intake since not many fighters comply with sharing this side of their fight camps.
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As per the reel, ‘Rocky’ ate a whopping 5 meals with intervals. The 1st meal includes overnight oats with a side of berries and bananas. The 2nd meal looks to be choco chip banana pancakes. Honey BBQ chicken rice takes the no. 3 position while smoky BBQ chicken rice takes no. 4. The 5th and final meal appears to be rice cakes covered with banana and honey on top. All 5 meals combined for a total of 3200 calories.
How did Leon Edwards’ size play a huge factor against Kamaru Usman?
Leon’s physique is one of the most-talked-about ones on the UFC roster. Even outside of fight camps, the Birmingham resident goes the extra mile to stay lean and fit. He’s never ceased to look shredded. The 31-year-old carries a lot of muscle mass with almost next to zero body fat on him.
During the night of his first title defense, the Jamaican-born showed a drastic improvement in his takedown defense as well as offensive wrestling. As he performed in front of his home crowd, fans saw Leon give Kamaru a really tough time in putting his wrestling game together. So much so, that it cost Usman almost the first 3 rounds to introduce his signature grappling form.
However, there is a key reason for it. Leon packs on several pounds just a few hours after getting off the weighing scales, let alone the day of the actual bout. This led to Leon outpowering Usman, nullifying the latter’s wrestling game. This made a huge difference as a majority of Kamaru’s chance of winning the trilogy was to force his offensive wrestling onto Leon, much like he did during their 1st meeting in the Octagon.
This ordeal forced Usman to resort to just his kicks and leather exchanges for the rest of the 5 round battle. Do you think Leon’s size gave played a huge role in his win over Kamaru at UFC 286? Let us know in the comments down below.
