A Champion’s Composure

Photo by Neville Williams/Aston Villa FC via Getty Images

Kickboxing ace, Leon Edwards, seeks the third title defense of his UFC title opposite veteran challenger, Belal Muhammad, this Saturday (July 27, 2024) at UFC 304 inside Co-Op Live in Manchester, England.

Edwards is a great technician (more on that below), but what really separates him from most is his ability to remain calm amidst the chaos of a cage fight. Edwards is a man who always knows what the scorecards read and how much time is left on the clock. How often do we see fighters coasting on a lead that isn’t actually there? “Rocky,” meanwhile, is perfectly content to take a round off against Gunnar Nelson or Colby Covington because he’s fully aware that he’s already won the fight. Who cares if he ends the fight on bottom when the win is already wrapped up?

The sole notable exception came when a fatigued Edwards required a rousing speech from his coach before head-kicking Kamaru Usman into oblivion (watch it). Again, how often have we seen corners scream and beg for their fighters to act to no effect? Edwards is the exception, the athlete cognizant enough to know he’s down and still sharp enough to give himself one last chance.

Let’s take a closer look at his skill set:

Striking

Edwards is very much a fighter who thrives at long and close range. He’s still effective in the pocket, but Edwards tends to limit himself to short exchanges when possible.

The first thing to note about Edwards’ technical kickboxing is that he jabs more often than most Southpaws. When faced with an opposite stance opponent, Edwards definitely still hand-fights and parries with his lead hand — Southpaws almost have to — but he’s far more willing to slap down his foe’s lead hand and step into a jab. He’ll commonly follow up with the left afterward, and it lands with better accuracy since he’s already found his way into range with both the hand-fighting and previous jab.

Edwards consistently makes great use of the Southpaw double threat: forcing his opponents to quickly determine whether a left cross or left kick is coming their way. This strategy is a staple of Edwards’ offense. Again, it tends to come after the jab, as Edwards snaps his foe’s head back and uses that moment to gain a bit of an outside angle before firing a hard cross or kick. Edwards’ left body kick is notably snappy and well-placed, far better than the average UFC left kick.

This is, of course, how he dethroned Usman: a perfect left high kick hiding behind the 1-2 (GIF). Beyond the brilliant execution, Edwards was lining up that kick the whole fight. He repeatedly stabbed Usman’s mid-section with front kicks, as well as taking the left round kick to the lead leg and liver. For five rounds, he built up to the fight-finishing head kick.

Edwards’ last match vs. Colby Covington was a bit of a nothing fight, as “Chaos” didn’t really do much other than stand around and get kicked. That said, Edwards did show off one neat wrinkle to his kicking offense: the inside crescent kick. Whenever the two were opposite stance, Edwards would dig into Covington’s mid-section with a funky lead leg front kick that angles inside then snaps into the belly. That’s a strike that’s gaining popularity in MMA, as it’s a nice way to touch the body without much risk of getting taken down.

On the whole, much of Edwards’ offense comes on the counter. He’s willing to lead and will often do so in a close fight to push the pace, but he does a lot of damage answering his opponent’s strikes (GIF).

For example, Edwards did a great job of countering Peter Sobotta, a fellow Southpaw. Since the two men were in the same stance, the jab’s importance grew. That favored Edwards since he already throws a lot of jabs usually, but he built upon that advantage by looking to counter Sobotta’s jab frequently. Early on, a looping cross counter over the jab found its home on Sobotta’s jaw a few times. Once the German athlete adjusted, Edwards switched his counter punch of choice to the uppercut. Edwards made similar adjustments against another leftie in Nate Diaz, chopping up his calf, sticking him with jabs, then walking him into heavy counter swings.

In addition, Edwards is quite good at kicking from his back foot, a risky technique that a lot of fighters do poorly. As his opponent advances, Edwards will feint with his lead hand, set his feet and stop moving away, and blast a left kick into the mid-section. It’s simple enough on paper, but the timing has to be precise to avoid a counter or stuffed kick.

The last note on Edwards’ kickboxing habits is that he likes to following the left high kick with a lunging left hand. It’s both sudden and effective, and it again takes advantage of the Southpaw double threat by forcibly moving his opponent’s hands out of position to block the kick.

In recent years, Edwards has developed a reputation as an excellent clinch striker. Much of the time, winning the clinch battle is as simple as throwing something, anything when breaking away from the clinch, when fighters tend to drop their hands. However, Edwards also does a phenomenal job initiating the left elbow from the clinch.

It is difficult to pinpoint what exactly makes Edwards’ elbow so much more effective than his peers. After all, controlling a collar tie with one hand and elbowing with the other is hardly a new tactic in mixed martial arts (MMA). Yet, Edwards consistently lands left elbow on the break with devastating force.

Perhaps the most notable difference is that Edwards really tends to gain an angle before throwing the elbow, stepping across his opponent’s body and trying to convince him to turn into the strike. Against dos Anjos, Edwards did a really nice job of interrupting his foe’s combinations with clinches that turned into elbows. “RDA” is a monster if his foe lets him get going, but Edwards routinely stymied him with this tactic. Edwards’ head position is another key, as he commonly is able to dictate his opponent’s posture by jacking their jaw up with his own forehead.

Finally, let’s talk about how Edwards used the same tools to far greater effect in the third Usman fight compared to the second bout. The big issue in the rematch was that Edwards’ footwork failed him. Too often, he backed straight up into the fence, allowing Usman to tee off and find success with his wrestling.

Edwards forced Usman to track him down much more in their most recent bout. He was more fluid with his lateral movement and direction changes, forcing Usman — never known for his fast feet — to constantly reset his stance and follow. Whenever Edwards gained a bit of an angle or caught Usman in a square stance, “Rocky” would rip a punishing low kicks. He did major damage to the inner thigh, making their speed differential even more pronounced.

In addition, Edwards stood his ground more often. He’s not an expert pocket boxer, but then, neither is Usman! It’s far better to stand and trade with one’s back removed from the fence. Edwards’ willingness to plant his feet and fire back in combination prevented Usman from walking him down, and the occasional threat of knees up the middle helped alleviate the pressure too.

Through his footwork and aggression, Edwards bought himself more time to work at distance, and he shined there.

Wrestling

After the first Usman fight, Edwards spent some time at American Kickboxing Academy and really developed his offensive and defensive wrestling. At this point, he should be considered an elite wrestler at 170 pounds.

Even the best converted non-wrestlers tend to have average shots, but that isn’t the case for Edwards. Not only does he duck down into the double leg with good speed, but he takes an angle immediately upon hitting his foe’s hips. From there, Edwards stands a better chance at driving through the shot or hitting the fence and finishing from there. In addition, Edwards shows good transitional wrestling by switching from a double-leg to body lock.

Edwards goes for trips quite a bit from the clinch, and they generally serve him quite well. He has a great frame from that style of takedown. In addition, he frequently shucked towards the back of Nate Diaz, which allowed him to drag the grappler down or execute another trip from behind.

Edwards becoming the first man to official take down Usman has to be mentioned, and he did so starting the exchange with his back to the fence. However, when he pummeled into the over-under, Edwards was essentially able to cancel out Usman’s underhook by securing a body lock and clamping down tight. As a result of that pressure from Edwards, Usman’s underhook grew more shallow and less effective. Edwards pushed him back from the new position and caught him off-guard with an outside trip, nearly buckling the knee in the process (GIF).

Defensively, Edwards does a lot of things right. First and foremost, his immediate defense to just about any shot is to get his back to the fence and widen his stance. With his legs too far apart to be double-legged, Edwards mostly just has to focus on fighting hands. If his opponent switches to a single leg, Edwards will look to stuff the head to the outside or down to the mat, opening up opportunities to reverse.

One thing Edwards does very well is maintain head position. When opponents drive forward into the clinch, Edwards will get his hips back, helping prevent the shot and allowing him to lower his own head. The head is often looked at as the first line of defense in wrestling, and Edwards often proves that notion true, pressing his forehead into his opponents jaw and negating forward pressure. After getting good head position, Edwards is usually able to angle off soon after or return to those hard elbows.

In the third Usman fight, Edwards did tremendous work stopping shots by fighting hands two-on-one as Usman tried to take him down. As Usman worked for takedowns below the waist, Edwards would look to break his grip and isolate his inside arm — the arm that would reach across Edwards’ body to collect the double leg if the Englishman allowed him.

It is really, really difficult to finish a takedown with just one arm. Without his hands clasped, Usman couldn’t run the pipe effectively, elevate a caught leg, or look to double off. Many times, that two-on-one control forced Usman to move up into the upper body clinch, where Edwards’ sound head position and gnarly elbows were a strong counter measure.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Edwards’ control game from top position revolves around taking the back, so it should not be a surprise that two of his three career submission victories are rear-naked choke wins. He’s attempted the hold multiple times inside the Octagon and did manage to secure it against Albert Tumenov.

In that bout, Edwards won the first two rounds via top control. In the third, both men were a bit fatigued, leading to a more desperate scramble from both. Edwards managed to drag Tumenov to the mat with a seat belt grip from the back, but he was perilously close to falling off the back. Tumenov worked to loosen the hooks as Edwards tried to move back and pull him deeper into the back mount, but “Rocky” flipped the script by going submission over position and simply attacking the neck.

His arm found its way under the chin, forcing Tumenov to focus on the choke rather than the escape. By that point, though, it was too late, and Edwards was able to secure his first submission victory inside the Octagon.

In general, Edwards is very willing to hang on the two-on-one wrist control and beat his opponents up. If they try to force a stand up, he’ll move to take the back, and it can be very difficult to break this chain of transitions.

Conclusion

Edwards is in his prime at 32 years of age and already riding a massive win streak. If he can settle this business with Muhammad, he’s lined up to face the next generation of Welterweight talent, opponents like Shavkat Rakhmonov and Ian Garry, or he might just find himself in a “super fight” versus Islam Makhachev.

Andrew Richardson, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, is a professional fighter who trains at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California. In addition to learning alongside world-class talent, Andrew has scouted opponents and developed winning strategies for several of the sport’s most elite fighters.

Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 304 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET (simulcast on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. ET), before the pay-per-view (PPV) main card start time at 10 p.m. ET (also on ESPN+).

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 304: “Edwards vs. Belal 2” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.