UFC 286 brought us the conclusion to the Leon Edwards vs Kamaru Usman trilogy. There were a lot of opinions as to how this fight would go, but I don't think I really saw anyone who predicted the fight that we actually ended up getting. We saw a fight that was largely controlled by Edwards on the outside with Usman unable to get much going outside of a few spurts. There weren't many big moments, which favors Edwards, but still felt a bit strange. I have a lot to say about this fight, but I don't want to do it all in the intro, so let's just get to work.
We'll start with Leon and I really don't have a ton to say about him this time around performance wise. This was much more of a typical Leon Edwards fight. He was able to get to his game much better than in the last fight and then keep the fight there. I do think Leon looked a bit sharper in this one. He was more confident and decisive. His strikes were sharper and seemed a tick faster, especially his kicks. Leon was throwing a lot more kicks this time and didn't seem as concerned with potentially getting them caught and taken down because of it. His left kick to Usman's body and the inside of Usman's right leg were his best weapons all night and the most effective technique that either fighter had going. Leon had a lot more success countering this time around too and landed some nice straight lefts at times. He even had some success in the clinch, which was unexpected, including a knee that briefly wobbled Usman early in the fight. Leon looked like he had a game plan that he was confident in and just went out and executed it. It was really impressive compared to the last fight. This time it was mostly Leon controlling the range and pace. His takedown defense largely held up this time as well. He went down a few times, but mostly worked his way back up without taking a ton of damage. The big fence grab cost him a point, but outside of that, Usman had very little success wrestling him. It was just a complete flip from what we saw last time. Not only did Leon not get controlled the entire fight, he was the one doing the controlling. It may very well be the most impressive performance of Leon's career, at least in terms of a full 25 minute display.
Normally, I would go into what I want next for Leon here. However, we already know that Colby Covington is lined up for the next title fight. There's a lot of talk about that going on and I have a lot of opinions on this and how it's being talked about. I'm going to have a full post later this week about it, so I won't give away any of my thoughts now. Stay tuned for that.
I said in my picks and betting post Saturday that Usman really should be fine unless he's physically cooked. I also said that I have to assume he's the same Kamaru Usman until I see it with my own eyes. Well, in short, he wasn't the same guy. Usman sort of supported the rumors that his health is deteriorating with that performance. He just really didn't look the same at all. Everything that made Kamaru Usman one of the greatest welterweights of all time only a handful of months ago was seemingly gone. His power seemed to be diminished. His work rate was significantly reduced. His striking was ordinary. His wrestling was ineffective. I'm almost at a loss for words. The guy who seemed unstoppable just wasn't in him on Saturday. We've known for several years now that Usman's knees were in pretty bad condition. The rumors that they are basically shot at this point picked up before the fight and that's really the only explanation I have. That would at least explain some of Usman's struggles wrestling and his decreased power. If he just didn't have the explosion in him anymore then that makes some sense. What really surprised me is that he really just didn't have any success at all outside of a few moments. I don't know what would have happened to him physically between now and August that would produce such a drastically different performance. It would have been one thing if the knockout was just in his head and caused him to fight very differently. I don't doubt that it contributed some, but it was the physical things that were much more concerning to me. Usman just kind of looked old and slow. He really never even got going. He stayed on the outside and fought at range and a slow pace, both of which favored Leon. As the fight progressed, I imagine that the low kicks really damaged his already compromised legs, which only made it harder for him to really push. As someone who is a fan of Usman and his title run, that wasn't fun to watch. I like Leon as well (obviously, if you know how long I had been calling for him to get the shot), but I didn't want to see Usman go down like that. Hopefully, for Usman's sake, it was just a tough camp and he was banged up. I hope we see him return in better condition than that whenever he is back in the cage.
Somewhat surprisingly, Kamaru Usman said that he will return to action. I really expected him to retire with a loss coming into the week, especially with the health rumors swirling. After seeing how he looked, I almost certainly expected him to set the gloves down. Hearing him talking more and more about missing moments and events with his kids and life away from fighting only made me think Usman was at the end of the line more. To hear him say this isn't the last of him was definitely unexpected, but I do respect him wanting to make another run. I really hope we see him get back to another title shot because the story would be a great one. The first step of that is an interesting one though. He's fought so many of the top guys already that he'll have an interesting route. He's already beat Colby and Masvidal twice, so those don't seem like likely options at any point. Dana White said that the current plan is for Belal Muhammad to fight Shavkat Rakhmonov. The winner of that is probably getting the next title shot, so that winner is out. The expectation is that Usman takes some time away to hopefully get as healthy as possible, so the timeline is murky at best for him. Win or lose, a rematch against Gilbert Burns is in the cards, but I don't know that anyone really wants to see it. The UFC doesn't really book many non-title rematches these days anyways. Geoff Neal and Wonderboy Thompson are the highest ranked guys left. Wonderboy is in the middle of sort of resetting himself, but I don't know about this fight for him right now. This is also assuming that Khamzat is a middleweight now, which seems like a safe bet. I think the Neal fight may actually be the move. Both guys coming off of a loss and a fresh matchup seems like a solid recipe. Depending on the timing of everything, the loser of Belal and Shavkat is there as well. I think I like the Neal fight to be honest. It seems like a nice reset for Usman to fully gauge where he's at whenever he comes back. It's a huge opportunity for Neal as well.
This was a huge fight and it really lived up to it I think. It wasn't necessarily an action packed slugfest or anything, but it was a really good chess match between two of the best the UFC has to offer. If this is it for Usman in title fights, it was an amazing run and I'm glad I got to witness it. Despite what we saw, I wouldn't rule him out just yet though. You have to feel great for Leon though. I'm glad he gets a real title run and it doesn't just get chalked up to a fluke. What a sport.
What did you guys think? What do you takeaway from the fight? What do you want next for both fighters? Leave any and all comments below. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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