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Was the confrontation between Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal planned? Leon Edwards thinks so.
Leon Edwards wasn’t sold on the altercation between Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal, and labelled it as “planned.”
Usman and Masvidal got into a confrontation earlier this week at the Super Bowl media day. The back and forth between the two top welterweights was captured on video, and Usman can be heard shouting “Do something,” whilst Masvidal is seen mocking Usman by sending him kissing gestures.
Talking to ESPN about the incident, Edwards wasn’t sold that the confrontation was genuine.
“Was it planned? Why are the cameras following him all the way to Usman?,” Edwards said. “It’s basically planned because they’re walking for like, a minute with a camera behind him. That’s this game we’re in right now, right? It’s the social media era and the WWE era. That’s the way the game is leading at the moment. It is what it is. I’m just focused on my career and doing what I need to do and being what I need to be to achieve what I need to achieve.” (Transcription via MMA Fighting)
Edwards is set to headline the upcoming UFC London card in his home country against the former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley on March 21st. With UFC president Dana White recently stating the promotion is working on a fight between Usman and Masvidal in July, Edwards thinks it’s obvious the altercation in Miami was a publicity stunt to generate more attention for their potential fight.
“You can tell that’s planned. The camera is walking behind him for a long way before he got to Usman so he was like, ‘Ah, we’re going to go do this.’”