Leon Edwards has had a fantastic time lately, from winning the UFC Welterweight world championship to now being promoted to black belt in BJJ. The English UFC veteran has has been quietly working his way up the rankings since he joined the promotion in 2014 and has been making a strong case for a title-shot over the last few years. He’s often been overlooked by fans for one reason or another, but he’s put in consistently impressive performances that made his claim to the top contender spot undeniable in the end.
Edwards came to the UFC with an impressive 8-1 professional record on the UK regional scene even though he was still relatively green at just 23 years old at the time. He stumbled in his UFC debut and dropped a split decision against Claudio Silva before bouncing back with a pair of wins that led to him being matched against another up-and-coming fighter at the time, Kamaru Usman. Edwards lost the decision to Usman who went on a tear from that point onwards and ended up winning the UFC Welterweight world championship before defending it an impressive five times.
Edwards meanwhile had to go back to the drawing board and work his way up the rankings once again. That loss didn’t phase him though as Edwards managed to put together an amazing ten-fight unbeaten streak that included wins against legends of the sport like Nate Diaz, Donald Cerrone, and Rafael Dos Anjos. This epic five-year stretch culminated in a rematch with Usman for the title. That was where Edwards shocked the world by knocking out ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ in the very last round of a fight that he was likely losing on the scorecards. Since returning home to Birmingham, England, Edwards has now also been promoted to black belt in BJJ by his coaches Thomas Bracher and Victor Estima.
Leon Edwards announced the news of his promotion to BJJ black belt in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
