Edwards defeats Kamaru Usman to claim UFC 278 title (photo: MMA fight)
Kamaru Usman, the American-Nigerian mixed martial artist, will contend to reclaim the UFC welterweight title from England’s Leon Edwards on March 18.
According to ESPN, Dana White, UFC president, announced the official status of the bout on Sunday.
The duo will be fighting each other for the third time as the co-main event at the UFC 286 in the O2 Arena in London.
In August 2022, Edwards won the title by knocking out Usman in the fifth round of their UFC 278 at Vivint Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah.
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It was the first UFC career loss for the “Nigerian Nightmare” and an end to a 15-fight winning streak that took him just one short of Anderson Silva’s UFC record of consecutive wins.
Usman had beaten Edwards previously in a nontitle fight in 2015.
For UFC 286, Edwards, the second-ever British champion in UFC history, will be returning to the country he grew up in.
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Born in Jamaica and moved to Birmingham, England, at the age of nine, Edwards is unbeaten in 11 straight fights dating back to that loss to Usman eight years ago.
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