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UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards has described the female attention he's been getting since becoming champion and compared it to soccer star Jack Grealish.
Edwards stunned the world at UFC 278 when he won the welterweight title. After a strong first round from 'Rocky', then-champion Kamaru Usman returned to form and dominated the next three rounds with his relentless wrestling. Deep into the fifth round and heading towards a unanimous decision loss, the Brit landed the perfect head kick to knock Usman out with just under a minute remaining.
The 31-year-old recently appeared on My Mom's Basement with Robbie Fox and described his life since becoming the champion. Leon Edwards was asked whether the female attention is on him when he's in Birmingham, UK, or if it is on footy ace Jack Grealish, who is also a Brummie. 'Rocky' joked:
"I'd probably say me! Yeah 100%. That's [winning the UFC title] like history in Birmingham, whereas there's loads of footballers in the area. There's only one UFC champion in the UK so, it's different."
Edwards is set to reignite his rivalry with 'The Nigerian Nightmare' next year with their trilogy bout expected to headline a UK pay-per-view. Dana White also confirmed that the UFC is working on Khamzat Chimaev vs. Colby Covington on the same card, with the winner potentially going on to face either Leon Edwards or Kamaru Usman.
Catch the full podcast here:
Israel Adesanya names Leon Edwards' head kick as KO of the year
During UFC 281's fight week, middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and members of his City Kickboxing team, including his coach Eugene Bareman, sat down with ESPN MMA to discuss the year in the UFC so far.
Megan Anderson asked both Bareman and Adesanya what they thought is the best knockout of the year so far. While they both noted Michael Chandler's stunning front-kick KO over Tony Ferguson, 'The Last Stylebender' could look no further than Leon Edwards vs. Kamaru Usman:
"As much as I love both [Usman and Edwards] guys, and it hurt, it was bittersweet, Leon's, just the way it happened. The story leading up to that, getting fights pulled, scratched eye on Belal, no fights for so long, everyone counting him out."
'Izzy' continued:
"Kamaru whooped his a** already, whooping his a** on the way to a victory and then the way that happened and then seeing Tim [Simpson, his manager] in the cage, just emotional. It was all beautiful so that would be my one. As much as that hurt me, that would be my KO of the Year."
Catch the full interview here:
