Leon Edwards opens up on how his corner's fiery speech changed the game against Kamaru Usman
Leon Edwards opened up about how his corner's fiery speech changed the game and led to him pulling off an upset against UFC 278.
On the UFC 286 Countdown show, Edwards described the moment his corner gave him a passionate speech as he was down on the scorecards. He needed to finish Usman in the final round if he wanted to win the welterweight championship. He mentioned that the speech calmed him down and reassured him that he had what it takes to win the fight:
"I knew I was down on the scorecards. You know, I feel that's the speech they have gave me to like, wake me up... It refocused me, that speech did. Calmed me down, sort of like put me in a mindset to go out there and handle it." [12:52 - 13:16]
'Rocky' was clearly motivated by his corner's speech as he dropped 'The Nigerian Nightmare' with a head-kick with less than a minute remaining in the fight to become the new champion. The speech was included in the video, where his coach can be heard telling him his only path to victory is by finishing Usman, saying:
"Listen! Stop feeling sorry for yourself...Well, come on then! What's wrong with you? You're two fu**** down. You got to pull it out of the fire! Come on, Leon, man. You got it man, come on!" [13:00 - 13:10]
It will be interesting to see whether Edwards is more confident in their trilogy fight this Saturday, especially considering that he knows he is capable of finishing Usman.
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Leon Edwards will have hometown advantage in trilogy bout with Kamaru Usman
Leon Edwards vs Kamaru Usman at #UFC286!! 🇬🇧
TEN days until the trilogy in London! https://t.co/1vQR8dEt5B
Leon Edwards will have the hometown advantage when he fights Kamaru Usman in their trilogy bout. They will be headlining UFC 286, which takes place at the O2 Arena in London, England.
The home crowd could play a factor in the bout as they will undoubtedly be rallying behind their countryman and reigning welterweight champion. 'Rocky' will surely be more confident, especially considering he is coming off a knockout win over 'The Nigerian Nightmare' in their most recent encounter at UFC 278.
Usman, on the other hand, might still be confident. He was winning the fight and likely would have earned a unanimous decision had he taken 'Rocky' down and run out the remaining 56-seconds of the fight similar to what he did when he won their first fight in 2015. It will be interesting to see who will win the trilogy and get the bragging rights in this rivalry.