The UFC is heading to London this Saturday, March 18th for UFC 286: Usman vs Edwards 3. UFC 286 is set to be one of the best cards of the year. For starters, the main event is the Welterweight Championship rematch and the finale of the trilogy between Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman. Leon was born in Kingston Jamaica but moved to Birmingham England at age nine. Edward's father was a British gangster who was shot and killed in a nightclub when Leon was only thirteen. By the time Edwards turned seventeen his mother thought it would be a bright idea for him to join an MMA gym and avoid repeating the same lifestyle as his father. Well, his mom was certainly right. Thirteen years later Leon kicked undefeated Kamaru Usman in the head to knock him out cold. Leon then delivered one of the most legendary post-fight interviews of all time. "Pound for pound! Headshot! Dead!" Afterward, we saw Leon walk into the locker room emotionally calling his mother about winning the championship. It was an amazing moment.
Especially when you factor in the fight. Leon won round one on every judge's scorecard in their Championship bout. Leon even took the fight to the ground in round one. Leon trains in England where the average elevation above sea level is 162 meters. The elevation above sea level in Salt Lake City where the fight took place is 1,319 meters. Usman trains in Colorado at a higher elevation than Salt Lake. Usman has a tremendous gas tank, training in Colorado definitely helps. That said, in their first title fight, Leon gassed himself out after one round. Leon was unable to adapt to the elevation against Usman. Kamaru was able to dominate Leon through grappling from rounds two through four. Yet, Edwards was able to persevere through Kamaru's dominance and pump fake a hook causing Kamaru to flinch to the left allowing Leon Edwards to beautifully time a head kick to win the title. Who could forget the tremendous speeches from Dave Lovell to inspire Leon to hand on till the end and hit his home run?
However, as everyone knows, no two fights are the same. Kamaru might be able to take Leon to the ground, but I don't believe it'll work as well. I believe Leon was truly tripped up from the elevation in Utah and will almost look like Superman in London. There has been tons of speculation on Kamaru's body being close to physically done. According to Joe Rogan, Usman is lacking cartilage in his knees. Usman has also said himself that he has had to repeatedly get hand surgery. It sounds like his body unfortunately can't take much more. It might be possible his chin is now compromised after receiving a kick of that magnitude putting Usman on his back out cold. I believe Leon will get the knockout inside the distance. I believe this is the last MMA fight of Kamaru Usman's career and frankly, that's sad to think about. Who knows, maybe Usman has been blowing smoke about how severely his body has been injured as mental warfare to make Leon not think he has to do as much to win. The current line on DraftKings is Edwards (+205) vs Usman (-245). Might be worth it to take Leon now before anything changes.
Third-ranked Lightweight Justin Gaethje (+195) vs sixth-ranked Rafael Fiziev (-230) might be the fight of the night. Fiziev's high-paced Muay Thai has made him an insanely tough opponent. Justin Gaethje has only lost championship bouts in the last three years of his career. Every fight he's fought in the last three years has been either a win or a championship loss. There's no shame in losing to Charles Oliveira or Khabib Nurmagomedov, but Justin has been getting these title fights because he is the gatekeeper of the Lightweight Division. If you beat Justin, odds are you'll receive a title fight as your next fight, but if Justin beats you, he gets that title shot. Most believe Fiziev is the next big thing in the Lightweight division. Gaethje's nickname is the "Highlight." However, both of these men are human highlight reels. It's hard to see this fight going the distance. I can't wait!
The rest of the main card is Gunnar Nelson (-360) vs Bryan Barberena (+295), Jennifer Maia (+145) vs Casey O'Neill (-170), and Marvin Vettori (-275) vs Roman Dolidze (+230). The prelim to look out for is a Flyweight bout, Mohammad Mokaev (-850) vs Jafel Filho (+600). Mokaev is going to be the most dominant champion ever in the Flyweight division once his inevitable reign begins. Mokaev draws a lot of comparisons to Khabib and the Flyweight division has never seen anyone like that. I can not wait for UFC 286 in London!
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