Across the pond, we head to this week’s UFC 286 from the O2 arena in London, England for the welterweight championship trilogy bout between the Nigerian former champion Kamaru Usman and current champion Leon Edwards, of Jamaican heritage living in England.
They head a scheduled fifteen-fight slate that takes a similar theme as other events the organization is offering in venues other than Las Vegas in that twelve of the bouts feature combatants from England or immediate surrounding countries.
This event features the larger octagon. A fully-libated English crowd may translate into a potential advantage for the local fighters who may also be aided by the fact that they don’t have to endure the complications of travel.
Early prelim bouts begin at 1:00 p.m. ET with five preliminaries kicking off at 3 p.m. PT. Finally, at 5 p.m. ET, the five-bout main card drops.
Leon Edwards +200 vs. Kamaru Usman -240
Welterweight (170 pounds) Championship | Main Event
Finocchiaro: In their first fight, both athletes were young and still developing, but from the start of that bout until the end, all viewing the fight as well as Englishman Leon Edwards were aware that Edwards was being dominated by Usman’s wrestling prowess. Even during the bout, Leon knew that if he was ever going to compete for the UFC welterweight title he’d need to drastically improve his wrestling for Usman. Then he showed how effective his fight arsenal was.
It took six-plus years for these cats to engage again, and in that second fight, it appeared that little had changed. Usman’s wrestling dominated the Brit in rounds two, three, and four, and he was on his way to victory when Edwards struck lightning and finished the champion with a head kick KO.
Edwards came in as a substantial +280 underdog in that second fight while the total was lined 4.5 Rounds over -160.
It was my take before the second bout that Edwards had enough time to effectively compete against Usman in wrestling, and over time, his striking and movement would wear the champion down. Then Edwards would be in the dominant position late in the fight.