With one minute left in his UFC 278 fight with Leon Edwards, Kamaru Usman was probably thinking about how he would address the media after his dominant — albeit imperfect — performance.
He was probably thinking about giving up the first takedown of his UFC career to a man that isn’t necessarily known for his wrestling. He would have to answer to that. Usman’s family sat in the front row probably trying to figure out where their victory dinner would be. Edwards’ team had run out of expletives to shout at their fighters as it looked like he was resigned to losing. The fans at the sold-out Vivint Arena began making their way to their cars in order to beat the Salt Lake City traffic.
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The UFC commentary team had committed to discussing Usman’s future as the reigning and defending champion and what would be next for the pound-for-pound king. Would he simply defend his title? Or would he pull off the unprecedented, moving up two weight classes to 205 pounds and fighting to solidify himself as one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time?
And then it happened.
Edwards flashed a right jab to get Usman to dip his head to the right and fired a left head kick that landed flush. It was absolutely perfect.
The kick heard 'round the world 🌎
— UFC (@ufc) August 21, 2022
[ @Leon_EdwardsMMA | #UFC278 ] pic.twitter.com/GfmX7pBnj6
Usman crashed to the canvas in an unconscious heap and, just like that, everything changed. Leon Edwards was the UFC welterweight champion while all the talk about Usman being the pound-for-pound king and one of the greatest fighters to ever grace the Octagon went up and smoke.
That’s the cruel beauty of the wonderful world of mixed martial arts.
One minute you’re emphatically losing and the next it all changes. You can’t do this in any sport that involves a ball. There isn't a 20-point Hail Mary, a 9-point full-court shot, or an 8-run double Grand Slam that can save the day that late from that far down. When defeat is inevitable, it’s inevitable.
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But in MMA, all it takes is one shot and Leon Edwards proved it with arguably the greatest come-from-behind head kick in UFC history. There have been other head kicks — Holly Holm knocking out Ronda Rousey comes to mind — but that was in a fight that Holm was dominating.
This was different.
After a shaky first round, Usman began to dominate the fight in every aspect. Edwards looked resigned to losing as he was repeatedly put on his back and unable to land anything of significance when the two were standing up. The head kick came out of nowhere with just under a minute left. It landed with a sickening thud on a man who hadn’t lost a fight since 2013.
We are no longer talking about Usman’s place in UFC history nor are we discussing how he would fare going to weight classes up to challenge for the UFC light heavyweight title. The UFC set up for Usman to face Khamzat Chimaev, who was preposterously booked to face Nate Diaz, sometime next year. That has now gone up in smoke as the UFC will need to figure out when and where to book the rematch between Edwards and Usman.
It happens so quickly that someone you thought was in the conversation for greatest mixed martial artist of all time ends up watching their title end up around someone else’s waist. The dramatic pendulum swing of MMA is the reason fans love the sport as much as they do. Nothing is for certain and, unlike boxing, there are so many different ways to win a fight. If punching isn’t working, you kick. If kicking isn’t working, you take it to the ground. If taking it to the ground isn’t working, you find some unique mixture of everything and try that. But you are never, ever out of a fight.
Leon Edwards proved that in the most violent way.
And in a sport that doesn’t have much of an established history, things change rapidly. Unlike boxing where the likes of Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson created nearly insurmountable mountains to climb over the course of the past century, MMA has really just become part of our sports existence in the past couple of decades. When things change, they change fast.
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It’s not over for Kamaru Usman as he’ll surely get a chance to redeem himself in a rematch. But he will exit the current pound-for-pound conversation, falling behind the likes of Charles Oliveira, Alexander Volkanovski and Jon Jones. Meanwhile, Edwards went from just another opponent to a world champion in a matter of seconds.
Between the tears that Edwards spilled onto the canvas after realizing he pulled off the unthinkable and the bewilderment that Usman wore after regaining his consciousness, it is difficult to understand how quickly fortunes can change.
But that chaotic beauty is what draws us to MMA. There will always be something that you haven’t seen before. Just when you think you know what's going to happen, you don't. And you're surprised. Leon Edwards isn't the first and he won't be the last, but he definitely is the latest.
