Leon Edwards is said to be the UFC ‘s’ redhead’.
Despite putting together an eight-fight win streak, the Jamaican-born Brit found himself out of the UFC welterweight rating last year due to inactivity.
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Leon Edwards’ hard work was almost taken away by inactivity
That was through no fault of his own. The coronavirus infection has plagued Edwards since his display by Tyron Woodley at the London UFC and then stole travel restrictions for about another six months of his career.
Once he finally got a pair with Khamzat Chimaev, that fight fell three times with Edwards first making a deal on COVID-19 before Chimaev got it and suffered badly.
As bad as he could not make his third date, that means Edwards is now taking 13th place as Belal Muhammad this weekend.
No Brit has never led Edwards’ winning streak now. Even the best Conor McGregor has seven in a row.
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Leon Edwards was born in Jamaica but moved to England at the age of 9
Rocky has beaten boys like Donald Cerrone, Vincent Luque, Gunar Nelson and light-hearted vice-hero Rafael Dos Anjos. That’s not a ‘gimme’ list at all and if Edwards extends his streak to nine in this coming Saturday’s series, UFC president Dana White says Edwards will get winner Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal for the welterweight title.
Usman represents a tough test for anyone. The Nigerian Nightmare is the last man to defeat Edwards with the impact of a decision back in 2015, but things have changed since then.
Edwards has not lost since then and Usman is now the leading cleaner of the division.
To put it in context what Edwards has accomplished in the welterweight division, only two men have streaks that have won longer.
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There is no certainty about Edward’s record
Who are they? Conventional champion Usman and perhaps the greatest ever, Georges St-Pierre.
These two men have won 13 in a row in the UFC and St-Pierre successfully defended his title nine times in a row.
That’s the department’s criterion and despite Edwards being in that high branch for achievement, many feel the Birmingham fighter is not out of the respect he deserves to earn.
Does he have to be more musical? Does it need that same heating pad? What can Leon Edwards do to get a name in the mouths of outsiders to win, win, win?
That should be enough, but people will argue that the UFC is trying to sell pay – per – view.
However, Edwards is not a boring character; his time in the UFC has been seen hard calling people out, backed by Jorge Masvidal and the taunt Darren Till about who is the best fighter in the UK.
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Donald Cerrone is one of Edwards’ biggest scalps
Edwards was never afraid to damage some feathers. He’s a very technical and intelligent fighter, so he’s probably not the KO artist who gets all the headlines.
In the eight-fight winning streak, six of those went to finals with just one hit and one try.
As both Dan Hardy and Michael Bisping have explained, Edwards is the best chance in the UK to see the world champion soon.
Darren Till is also in that conversation. If he can defeat Marvin Vettori on April 10, it is widely believed that Israel Adesanya wants to defend his middleweight belt against Till.
Edwards can throw his ticket to the promised land this weekend. If he does, he then confronts one of the men with whom he shares welter-weighted fat air.
It couldn’t have been harder, but nothing had been easy about Edwards ’climb to incredible.
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Dana White says Leon Edwards will be the next line if he hits Belal Muhammad