Leon Edwards has defeated Kamaru Usman early Sunday morning, thus becoming the second British champion in Ultimate Fighting Champion, UFC history.
The bout which took place in Salt Lake City saw Edwards landing a fierce head kick with just a minute left.
Usman, nicknamed the Nigerian nightmare, is adjudged as the number one pound-for-pound fighter.
He was looking to make the sixth defence of his title in a rematch against Edwards, and he appeared to be making progress until he was dealt the last-minute kick that left him in the cold.
Before the early Sunday fight, Usman and Edwards had faced off in the early stages of their UFC careers and it was the Nigerian who won unanimously in 2015.
Since outpointing Edwards in 2015, Usman had won 13 consecutive fights whilst the Brit was unbeaten in 10 fights.
With so much talk from Usman in the build-up to this, he wasted no time in taking Edwards down as the fight got underway, but the Brit turned the tables when he landed a takedown of his own and took Usman’s back.
Usman aware it was not going to be any easy fight for him, turned up the pace in the second round and started to put together some good combinations before ending the round on top with another takedown.
It was still all Usman in the third round as he dominated Edwards on the mat, mixing up his submission attempts with strikes.
While Edwards was slowing down as the rounds went on, Usman continued his relentless pressure in the final round which turned out to be his greatest undoing.
Out of nowhere, Edwards produced a perfect high kick which left Usman out cold with referee Herb Dean instantly waving off the fight almost immediately.
“You all doubted me that I couldn’t do it,” Edwards said in the cage after the fight.
“Look at me now. Look at it: pound-for-pound, headshot, dead. That’s it.”
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