Known to some as “Rocky”, Leon Edwards has been a professional since 2011. The all-rounder made his UFC debut in 2014 and has shown serious improvement throughout his stay. On July 20th, 2019, he takes on Rafael dos Anjos in an effort to set up a title fight in the log-jammed welterweight division.
In this article, I’ll go over what makes Edwards a good fighter and an all-rounder. Edwards will likely remain fixed as a top-ranked welterweight for some time to come. However, I find that he will struggle at the top of the mountain, as the jack of all trades tends to be the master of none.
Leon Edwards: The Problem with an All-Rounder
“Rocky” beginnings
When Edwards made his debut in the UFC, he fought Claudio Silva, an aged, but talented jiu-jitsu player. From this fight, you can recognize all of the elements that have carried Edwards throughout the years.
Firstly, Edwards loves the middle-range, as a southpaw Edwards is constantly circling in an attempt to get around his opponent’s lead hand.
This leads hand-in-hand with what he likes to do in this range- engage in a low pace kickboxing match, where he can feint, kick and punch straight.
Edwards constantly sought to maintain the center of the octagon and would frame and push off of Silva in order to maintain his range. This is still a huge part of his game and how he keeps himself safe from strikes.
Edwards can also build off of that framing when defending takedowns. From the frame he tends to position himself to fire off knees to the body.
Unfortunately for the UFC newcomer, his over-eagerness to strike got him taken down repeatedly and Silva would win the split decision. Still, Edwards showed signs of a technically sound fighter who had some things to work on.
The Wrestling Factor
Edwards would go on to win his next two fights, using his mid-range kickboxing to snipe and knock out Seth Baczynski. However, he would then face his next big challenge, which would be the future champion Kamaru Usman.
Against, Usman Edwards showed that he could hold his own in the open mat clinch exchanges, posting his head underneath Usman’s and deny him the body lock.
Edwards, unfortunately, could not put enough volume or damage to force Usman to back off. Thus, Usman was free to plod forward, tie Edwards up in the clinch and force takedowns.
Returning to Form
Usman was able to grind out the decision and Edwards was sent back home with wrestling in his mind. After this fight, he would go on to fight Dominic Waters. Against Waters, he began to add layers to his clinch game after realizing that his framing could set up many offensive and defensive options in his game.
While Waters had nothing for Edwards on the feet, the constant takedown attempts were a nice litmus test for Edwards. However, it was beginning to show the aggressiveness and technical precision of Edwards’ clinch game. It was all about creating frames and breaking down his opponent’s grips.
The Contemporary Edwards
Edwards after the Waters fight would go onto fight a vast majority of strikers. Against Albert Tumenov, he was able to get takedowns on the overextended Russian.
It felt like Edwards wanted to prove a point, that if he could take down the bigger and stronger opponents, it was likely that his wrestling was not incompetent. However, we would find out the reason why.
The Cracks
Against Bryan Barberena, a tough combination wrestle-boxer, Edwards was constantly sucked into a close-range boxing fight. When I mentioned earlier how Edwards loves to frame to move back to middle-range, it was clear he needed to. Edwards loves his straight punches, however, in close boxing exchanges, those long punches got him caught by hooks. Therefore, Edwards was forced to try and clinch.
Still, Edwards proved that he could dominate opponents if their specific skill set could not overwhelm his various tools. But also, it showed that Edwards was learning to add some offense, after years of dealing with his wrestling woes.
Master of None
Edwards has yet to find a particular spot in which he can dominate. However, against Donald Cerrone and Gunnar Nelson, he showed he might be figuring out what he can finish fights with.
Against Cerrone, his straight punches and kicks were often fast enough and sharp enough to go in between Cerrone’s wide guard.
Cerrone therefore, could not set up his usual rhythm and be forced to make awkward charges for either takedowns or punches.
It was in the framing that Edwards started showing a new desire for violence. The all-rounder found that the transitions between striking and wrestling (the clinch) gave him opportunities to elbow with force.
Against Cerrone, elbows cut him up and definitely hurt him a few times. However, against Nelson, he was able to drop and nearly finished him as a result.
It’s clear that Edwards has found a way to hurt to his opponents in a way that they cannot return fire back. However, this tool doesn’t seem like it’ll fix his other problems.
Conclusion
Edwards is clearly a talented fighter who has improved on his already technical skill set. However, I believe that he will likely struggle against fighters that can apply better pressure, work the low kicks on his turned-in stance and can simply outmuscle him in the clinch.
While he might be able to knock down many of the top 10 welterweights, the higher the division he goes, the less likely he will find dominance in every aspect of the fight. Edwards has certainly added an aggressive clinch striking game, however, against the better wrestlers it might falter.
Regardless, Edwards is an interesting prospect and can certainly improve his boxing game. However, as an all-rounder, he will continually struggle against opponent’s that can enforce their specialized game against him. I hope to see him continue to find his niche and continue his title run.
Main Photo
Embed from Getty Images
