UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards wouldn't be surprised if Kamaru Usman goes back to his wrestling roots if they meet in a trilogy fight.
Jamaican-born Brit Edwards defied the odds to knockout former pound-for-pound No.1 Usman with a last-gasp head kick in their UFC 278 title fight in August, becoming just the second British champion in promotional history. Edwards was losing on the scorecards up until the fight-ending kick and he thinks the loss could make Usman change his fighting style for a potential trilogy fight.
"That bad of a knockout does play an effect on you," he said. "He might just go straight wrestling and think 'I'm not even risking striking with nobody anymore' and just go back to that boring Usman in which he just holds people against the cage. We'll see, whether he does or not it doesn't make a difference to me. I know [the loss] plays a part in his mind so I'd love to see how he approaches it when we do fight again."
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Both Edwards and UFC boss Dana White want the welterweight champion's first title defence to be at a stadium in the UK, as the promotion has only held past events at arenas in the region. Wembley in London is the likely option but Edwards has also suggested Villa Park in his hometown of Birmingham as another possible venue for his next fight.
Whilst admitting the Salt Lake City altitude played a factor in his sub-par performance, Edwards credited coach Dave Lovell's inspirational post-fight speech before the final round for his Hail Mary win. The Brit doubled down on a past comment he made about the fight being one of the worst performances of his career whilst insisting Usman is past his best as a fighter.
"It's weird because I felt fresher in the fifth round, he added. "Maybe it was because of the talk that my coach gave me. I think the altitude played a big difference in the fight, I just didn't feel my body was reacting. I could think what I wanted to do but my body was just slow to react to it, even with the precautions I went to for it not to happen.
"I said it straight away that was one of the worst performances of my career and that was the best Usman we're going to get. That's what he does in fights that's the best we're going to get and that was the worst of me. I think it will be a totally different fight, but with the same result."
