While Kamaru Usman may have been moments away from retaining the welterweight title against Leon Edwards at UFC 278, those waning moments of their August bout turned out to be quite significant indeed.
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Edwards authored one of the biggest upsets of 2022 when he knocked Usman out with a head kick 4:04 into the fifth round of their headlining bout in Salt Lake City, Utah, saving himself from a decision defeat in the process. Since then, Usman has been somewhat dismissive of Edwards while pointing to the fact that he was well ahead on the scorecards prior to the finish.Edwards understands the logic, but it still doesn’t take away the end result.
“I think when you get knocked out like that, he has to find something to clutch on to,” Edwards said during a media day ahead of UFC 286. “He needs to build the confidence back up because going into it, he thought he could never be taken down, he could never be hurt or knocked out.“He was winning the fi…