Leon Edwards finds it ‘weird’ that Kamaru Usman was relieved to lose UFC title

Leon Edwards is not buying the way Kamaru Usman is handling his UFC title loss.

Usman (20-2 MMA, 15-1 UFC) was knocked out in brutal fashion by Edwards (20-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC) in their title fight at UFC 278 in August. He lost the welterweight belt with less than a minute left.

Edwards caught Usman with a perfect head kick and handed him his first octagon loss. The former champion said he was relieved to lose his title and even laughed with Joe Rogan about the loss. But Edwards doesn’t think his reaction is genuine.

“It’s weird, right? Because to go from that cocky guy to now, ‘I’m happy to get knocked out and it’s a relief,’ I just don’t believe it,” Edwards told BT Sport. “For me, I hope, like I said, I never get to a stage where I’m happy for a loss, you know? It’s weird. The way he’s handling it is the only way he could handle it, right? He couldn’t come out and be, like, salty. So we’ll see. I don’t know.

“It’s weird the way he’s going along with it. I feel like he’s overdoing it. It is what it is. He was the champion. He thought he couldn’t be beat. He’d been beat. That’s just the game.”

With their series tied 1-1, Edwards is expecting a rubber match with Usman for his first title defense, but admits a grudge match with Jorge Masvidal is still on his mind.

“Yeah, 100 percent,” Edwards said. “I believe Usman 3 next year is probably the frontrunner unless something dramatic happened in the next however months that are left this year. I love the Masvidal one. I know he hasn’t earned it, but I would love for him to go out there, fight somebody in October or something like a (Gilbert) Burns or something. Just get one in – one good win.

“Go in there, smoke Burns – I can’t see him beating Burns, but let’s say he does go out there and smoke Burns … imagine the scenes in the U.K. I truly believe that would be a bigger fight in the U.K. than Usman. I know Usman is a tough guy, but for the U.K. casual fans, I think that’s the fight for the U.K. But like I said, it doesn’t matter to me. Whoever comes first comes first.”

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Story originally appeared on MMA Junkie