Long-time champion Kamaru Usman lost in the last minute of his championship match at the incredible UFC 278 event.
The previous welterweight champion had an impressive rise to the top, winning over Edwards early in their promotional careers. He retained the title for more than three years.
However, in his match against Edwards, a last-minute head kick rendered him unconscious. Edwards was declared the winner of the match.
Usman could be seen in the cage as he regained consciousness asking his coach what had happened.
After the terrifying knockout, Usman was transported straight to the hospital.
He must now recover before challenging Edwards in a trilogy that’s rumored to be happening at Wembley Stadium in March.
The former champion revealed to Joe Rogan on his podcast that when he awakened from the knockdown, he had no clue why he was in an ambulance.
Usman said
“I wanted to throw with conviction like I did with Masvidal and get him out of there. What I’m going to do is shake left, shake right and then I’m going to let it go, but I’ve got to get him moving first, and I didn’t do a great job of that.”
“I’m moving, moving, OK, I’ve got him set up, which I really didn’t. I shake left, I shake right, and I’m sitting in an ambulance and they’re asking me, ‘Do you know where you’re at?’ I’m like, ‘What the f***?’ I was good, I watched the fight over, I’m good. I was talking, I talked to Trevor [Wittman, his coach].”
“I talked to everyone, because you go back and then you go in the medical tent and they take care of you and all of that. I talked to my family, I hugged everyone, because it was on video and everything. I recall being seated. It was like Leon gave me a 20-minute nap.”
Since Michael Bisping’s infamous knockout of Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 in 2016, Edwards’ win was the first time a Brit had won a global championship in the UFC. Given how dominating a champion he was before the bout, Usman is probably going to get a rematch right away.
Despite defeating him, Edwards is still ranked behind Usman in the promotion’s pound-for-pound rankings. Another potential rival for Edwards include Jorge Masvidal.