What an incredible night with some really fantastic moments all around. I didn't get around to the previews because I just didn't feel very inspired or motivated, but I have a lot to say about these fights. We go in reverse order the week after, so that means starting with the main event. I don't even know if I have the words for this fight. This won't be a traditional fall out post as there's no real need to discuss what is next. Assuming Kamaru Usman is capable of making a somewhat normal return (which should be some question because that was a really bad knockout), then they'll do the immediate trilogy. I think as long as they can get that fight within the next 6 months, they'll wait it out. If Usman needs 8 months or longer, they'll probably just move on without him and make the Chimaev fight (assuming he does in fact beat Nate Diaz). Because there's no need to really go into that any deeper, I'm just going to discuss each fighter and maybe include some more general thoughts at the end.
We start with Leon Edwards and what a night for him. Even though I didn't really like his chances coming into the night, I've always been a fan of Leon and thought the UFC was really doing him dirty for awhile. If anyone else had that winning streak, they would've had the title shot several fights ago and I still stand by that. I know he's not the most exciting fighter to watch style wise and he isn't the big, bombastic personality that have appeal outside of the MMA bubble, but I'm still surprised he didn't have more general fan support before this. MMA Twitter has this thing where they love someone while they're winning, but once they lose, everyone acts like they've always hated them and knew they would lose and are overrated. In Leon's case, it was the cool thing to do to act like he had a padded resume and act like he didn't really exist and now everyone is his biggest fan and everyone loves him. Now, I would much rather Leon get this love than not at all, but how disingenuous it all is gets a little old. Anyways, back to the fight. Not to completely kill the vibe, but Leon really wasn't having a ton of success for a lot a lot of the run time. The fight started pretty slow in the first with Leon landing a few low kicks and some jabs. Usman started to turn up the volume a little and then eventually ended up on top after a weird exchange where Leon sort of fell down. Leon ended up getting back to his feet and then got his own takedown off of a trip in the clinch. He fell right into mount and was able to land some decent strikes including one elbow that seemed to bother Usman for a moment. Leon would eventually transition to the back where he would try to work for a choke, but Usman defended it well and escaped the round. From the start of the second round basically until the finish, Leon really struggled to get anything going. Usman started pressuring him and getting off more volume with his hands, which caused Leon to really fall behind. He landed a couple of solid hooks here and there, but his positive moments were really just that, isolated moments. Usman's pressure really started to take a toll on him and he was visibly slowing down. The strikes were landing a little cleaner on him, they seemed to be effecting him more, and the takedowns were coming easier each time. Leon looked like he was well on his way to losing the fight 49-46 when he finally got an opportunity to go forward. He took advantage as he feinted a left hand to draw a reaction out of Usman and when he ducked his head to avoid the punch he though was coming, Leon's high kick landed perfectly on the side of his head and just buckled him. Most of the time when we get these crazy moments, I go crazy at the same time. This time I don't think I even moved. I really just remember Usman falling down and Leon didn't land any follow up shots and then I remember the post fight interview. I don't really recall what the crowd did and I have absolutely 0 recollection of what was said on the broadcast. I had a 1 word text conversation with my brother where he said "what" and I just responded "wow" and that's all until Sunday afternoon when I actually had processed what happened. It was almost hard to comprehend because it was just so shocking. The Holly Holm vs Ronda Rousey high kick was shocking because of who Ronda was and the run she was on, but Holm was having a lot of success up to that point. This was shocking because Leon was so far removed from his best stretches of the fight and it seemingly came out of absolutely nowhere. I was texting my brother late in the 4th and before the 5th and we were saying that Leon wasn't doing that bad because he had limited the damage he absorbed much better than Usman's last few fights. Colby, Masvidal, and Burns all took a serious amount of damage from Usman and were beaten up pretty badly by the end of the fight. That hadn't happened to Leon, but he really didn't have the offensive success the others did either. The others took damage to land their own, but Leon just wasn't doing much after the first, but when he got the opportunity he made the most of it. I don't train any type of martial art, so I don't know if that set up is a common thing or not, but it was executed absolutely flawlessly. The best way I could describe it is that my brain just didn't fully understand what it was seeing as Usman fell to the canvas. What a moment for Leon. I genuinely couldn't be happier for the guy.
I really don't have a lot of bad things to say about Kamaru Usman's performance. He started a bit slow, but was starting to get it going when he got taken down. He was in a pretty bad spot with a lot of time left and he did a pretty nice job of limiting damage. Leon ended up on his back and he defended the chokes well there. After that, he basically looked like he was never gone. I was interested to see how comfortable he would be after the injury and surgery, but he looked fine. He turned up the pressure and started landing with power and volume. He was getting to his takedowns and was able to control long stretches of this fight with little to no resistance. By the time the fifth round had come, Usman was basically able to do whatever he wanted. He just got beat by an excellent set up. Usman has always been a pretty durable guy as well. We've seen him stunned and wobbled a couple of times, but he had never been knocked down before. To see him get folded like that was so unforeseen, especially from someone like Leon who isn't know for finishing fights. It seems like Kamaru is doing ok now as he's posted a few things on social media in the last day, so that's a good sign. He can't come back too soon after a knockout like that though. He needs to take his time and make sure that he's ready to go when he comes back because that was as bad as someone has been knocked out all year. While Usman was better for most of the fight, Leon was better in that moment and he got the win because of it. Usman fought well and was 54 seconds away from winning a clean 49-46 decision, but this is the game we play and that one mistake cost him. I imagine he'll be back and I'm not writing him off like a lot of people seem to be doing.
After I had sort of returned to a normal thought process after the fight, I couldn't help but be emotional for Leon. It was just such a great moment for a guy who did things his own way. He didn't give in to the pressures of the modern MMA landscape where social media and being loud and calling people out is the thing to do. He just went about his business the way he wanted to do it and it was just incredible. The way he was constantly overlooked by the UFC and was passed up for title shots over and over again for one reason or another just meant something to me because I can draw parallels between that and my own professional life. To see him become so emotional himself after the magnitude of the moment set in was great to see play out. The post fight interview with Rogan was so raw and from the heart. Seeing him crying in the back and then getting onto a facetime call with his family is all so surreal to watch. I just saw a video on twitter of his corner talking to him between rounds with the Rocky music edited over it. The whole thing is magic. Ariel Helwani tweeted the video, but the original account is @SeeUSoonBoyy if you want to watch it. It honestly almost got me cry, but not quite. I said it in my update to my picks and bets post, but I have to shoutout Leon for eating plain cheese pizza in the club after. As an adult who prefers just plain pizza, it isn't an easy life to live and you get a lot of hate for it, but shoutout to him for representing us well. I don't think I have any more thoughts on this fight right now. It is still kind of a blur. I have at least 2 more posts planned in relation to this fight, so be on the lookout for those. We have a week off of fights, so I have the time for that. One will be talking about where it may rank in the biggest upsets in MMA and another talking about what a fluke in MMA is and isn't. Spoiler alert: this doesn't qualify as a fluke in my book. Anyways, those are coming either late this week or early next week.
What did you guys think? What are your takeaways from the fight? What thoughts do you have a few days removed? What was the moment like for you and whoever you were watching with? Leave any thoughts below. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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