Edwards outclasses dos Anjos, calls out Masvidal
UFC welterweight Leon Edwards has had a troublesome time getting the highest fighters in his division to struggle him. They won’t have a selection within the matter after this weekend.
Edwards (18-Three) prolonged his win streak to eight Saturday night time, as he defeated former light-weight champion Rafael dos Anjos (29-12) by unanimous choice. The 170-pound bout headlined UFC Combat Night time at San Antonio’s AT&T Heart.
It was a powerful displaying by the English welterweight, who has not misplaced a struggle since December 2015 — to present UFC champion Kamaru Usman. All three judges scored it a blowout victory for Edwards, awarding official scores of 50-45, 49-46 and 49-46.
Instantly after the win, Edwards referred to as for a struggle in opposition to ranked contender Jorge Masvidal, with whom he received into a short, backstage altercation at a UFC occasion in March in London.
“I am on an eight-fight win streak, in one of many hardest divisions within the sport,” Edwards stated. “There’s slightly weasel referred to as Jorge Masvidal. Settle for the struggle. Let’s do it. You are not on my degree. Let’s make the struggle occur.”
Masvidal later responded to Edwards’ call-out in a collection of tweets:
Massive distinction between placing prime ranked opponents to sleep and placing followers to sleep #bum #whoru
— Jorge Masvidal UFC (@GamebredFighter) July 21, 2019
So I might be clear I used to be promised a title shot after I beat askren and I plan on cashing in on it. Do not name me out no extra till I get that belt #supernecessary
— Jorge Masvidal UFC (@GamebredFighter) July 21, 2019
Edwards, who was born in Jamaica and fights out of Birmingham, England, has actually performed sufficient to start out making calls for. His win streak is the second-longest energetic run within the division, trailing solely Usman’s 10 wins in a row. His eight wins for the reason that begin of 2016 is tied for essentially the most in that timeframe with Usman and Vicente Luque.
He proved to be higher than dos Anjos in each space of the struggle on Saturday. He out-struck the previous champion 106 to 88 general, in line with ESPN’s FightCenter information, and stuffed all 5 of his takedown makes an attempt. He opened a deep lower over dos Anjos’ left eye with an elbow within the second spherical, which threatened to cease the struggle.
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Leon Edwards summarizes his execution vs. Rafael dos Anjos as excellent, whereas calling out Jorge Masvidal for a future struggle.
Dos Anjos tried every thing he might to show the tide, however there was merely no doing so. He had some success early on with leg kicks, however Edwards’ vary and skill to combine issues up dictated the standup. Dos Anjos tried exhausting within the third spherical to take the struggle to the bottom, however Edwards used his dimension and defensive grappling to calmly stay on his ft.
Masvidal hit Edwards at UFC Combat Night time in March, after Edwards stated one thing to him as Masvidal was being interviewed backstage. Masvidal’s administration has stated he doesn’t wish to struggle anybody apart from Usman or Conor McGregor in the meanwhile.
Dos Anjos has now misplaced three of his previous 4 bouts. His solely win throughout that point got here in Could, when he defeated Kevin Lee fourth-round submission.