Brazilian MMA star Gilbert Burns has revealed his pick for the upcoming Leon Edwards vs. Kamaru Usman trilogy fight. ‘Durinho’ himself has competed for the UFC welterweight title once, facing former teammate Usman in February 2021 and losing via third-round TKO.
Usman beat Edwards via unanimous decision in December 2015 but lost their rematch via fifth-round KO in August 2022. Speaking to MMA Junkie, Burns harked back to the Usman-Edwards 2022 showdown.
He alluded to the fact that the fight transpired at a high elevation in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Usman generally trains at a similar high elevation in Colorado. The elevation adversely affected Edwards’ cardio and gave Usman the edge, almost costing the former a rematch.
Burns insinuated that since the trilogy will transpire in Edwards’ native UK, it will give ‘Rocky’ the advantage in the fight.
“I think it’s going to be very tough for Kamaru to go all the way to London. And I try to see the small things, the details. The details here are — Okay, fight night, put yourself in London… Okay, main event time, Kamaru walks first. He goes there, his music, dancing, everything that he does. He goes out there, and he waits for Leon. The whole arena is booing on him. Then, Leon comes, the whole arena goes crazy,” he said.
‘Durinho’ thinks that this time around, Edwards will have the edge.
“I think a little bit more edge for [Edwards]. Close fight, 50-50, but a little bit more edge to Leon,” he added.
Gilbert Burns pointed out that since Kamaru Usman is now the challenger and Leon Edwards is the champion, Usman will walk out first and be booed in Edwards’ home country. Burns pointed out that Usman isn’t used to all that.
Moreover, ‘Durinho’ believes these things could trick a fighter, adding that Kamaru Usman could also fall victim to these factors if he isn’t at his best mentally. Burns emphasized that Leon Edwards has a slight edge due to mental factors, as ‘Rocky’ will be fighting at home and confident owing to his KO win over ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ in their most recent clash.
Watch Burns discuss the topic at 12:37 in the video below:
Ali Abdelaziz on rumors of Kamaru Usman’s hand injury affecting his potential trilogy fight with Leon Edwards
Leon Edwards is expected to defend his UFC welterweight championship against Kamaru Usman at UFC 286 in London, England, on March 18, 2023. However, former UFC welterweight champion Usman was recently seen wearing a hand brace, raising concerns that the Edwards-Usman trilogy fight could be in jeopardy.
Prior to that, the MMA community was already rife with rumors that Usman was dealing with hand injury problems and might withdraw from his fight against Edwards. Speaking of which, Usman’s manager Ali Abdelaziz took to Twitter earlier this week to shoot down rumors of his client not competing at UFC 286.
Abdelaziz tweeted:
“Please enough with the rumors, Kamaru is fighting León next, he is good to go. We bringing this belt back to where it belongs.”