Chael Sonnen doesn’t think Leon Edwards deserves to be UFC welterweight champion. At UFC 278, Edwards, only a minute away from a unanimous decision loss to Kamaru Usman, sent a thunderous kick straight into Usman’s temple. He knocked “The Nigerian Nightmare” out cold and, in doing so, became the UFC welterweight champion.
Chael Sonnen believes the fight never should have seen round five, because Leon “cheated”, as he declared on his YouTube channel.
Chael Sonnen Accuses Leon Edwards of Cheating At UFC 278
“Leon cheated in that match a whole bunch of times. That is not a headline or a topic that is out there anywhere. Leon was frustrated in positions and had no way out of positions to the extent that he cheated repeatedly. Not once – not an accident, not the ref didn’t see it. The ref saw it, the ref warned him, the ref saw it again, the ref stepped in, the ref broke the action five and six times.
Kamaru Usman is very likely to smother you and change you when he is on top of you. He is most likely to finish a fight from that position particularly when he has you pinned up against the fence. Kamaru did three times. Leon changed the position and got out of that three times by cheating.
So now you’re in a fifth round that you never should’ve been in, potentially. You take a kick in a fight that you were winning, that you were trying to finish, and you had the position you needed to get said finish and the opponent cheated three times.”
UFC president Dana White called the accusation “absolutely unfair”. White acknowledged that Edwards was “absolutely dominated” throughout most of the fight, except for the head kick, and a grappling exchange in the first round that saw Leon Edwards take Kamaru Usman’s back.
“He became champion with a head kick. He didn’t win by grabbing the fence. I mean, he got absolutely dominated in that whole fight except for that couple of minutes in the first round. He got absolutely dominated, and you know, that’s completely unfair of Chael Sonnen to say that.
That kid sucked it up, dug down deep and landed literally the perfect head kick with like a minute left in the fight. So I would say that that’s silly, ridiculous and absolutely unfair to say about Leon.”
Kamaru Usman, for his part, has been gracious about the loss, praising Edwards for his toughness and grit. Do you agree with Chael Sonnen? Let us know in the comments.
