“I just can’t see what (Masvidal) does different. Unless he catches (Usman) and knocks him out, I just can’t see what he does differently.”
Leon Edwards can’t see what Jorge Masvidal does differently against Kamaru Usman at UFC 261, claiming that the latter is just a terrible stylistic matchup for ‘Gamebred’.
Masvidal came up short against Usman in a bid to capture the welterweight title at UFC 251 and, unless he catches ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ early in the rematch, ‘Rocky’ thinks the bout will play out as a repeat of their first matchup in 2020.
“It’ll be a good fight, I’ll be watching it for sure,” Edwards told Joe Rogan on a recent episode of JRE (via Middle Easy). “But if I had to put money on it, I would probably go Usman for the win again. I can’t see what (Masvidal) can do differently. He’s going to come out again and do what he does, swing for the fences, and try to knock him out. Usman is going to have a high guard and just grapple him.
“I just can’t see what (Masvidal) does different. Unless he catches (Usman) and knocks him out, I just can’t see what he does differently.”
Edwards is also baffled as to why Masvidal never agreed to fight him following their viral backstage altercation at UFC London in 2019.
“For sure, I thought ‘okay that’s the next fight,’ straight away, and to have it now be two, two and a half years and we still ain’t fought yet?” Edwards, who recently suffered a No Contest after landing a horrific — albeit accidental — eye poke against Belal Muhammad at UFC Vegas 21, said. “I’ve been calling him out ever since, and the UFC wants it, but he just keeps turning it down and saying no he don’t want to fight.”
UFC 261: Usman vs. Masvidal II is scheduled to take place next month, April 24 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.