Path to victory for every fighter
Everyone would love a 10-second knockout or a quick submission, but that’s not often how it happens, especially not at the championship level. Instead, it’s usually the contestant who’s come up with the best game plan and does the best job of executing things inside the Octagon who walks away with the raised hand and the gold around the cut.
So how does one or the other handle it on Saturday night?
Charterer: He’s the one leading the dance.
For Leon, Colby (Covington) kind of showed the pattern that if you stay busy against Usman, you can win the volume game and keep him on defense, that way he’s less offensive. He reacts to what you do, so any offense that comes his way – whether you call it panic fighting, reactionary strikes – he counters when he really wants to go first.
RELATED: Reasons to watch UFC 278: Usman vs Edwards 2
He’s the one who can establish those kickboxing range weapons first. Whoever can go first and get the other to react — he’s the one who’s going to be successful.
Brown: Either guy could do it a number of ways, but Edwards could do it with damage, especially with his close range and pressure elbows. Usman could hurt his feet, but he could also put him on the ground. I think he will have more success doing it in the middle; I think he will have a harder time getting it down and keeping it along the wall.
Nicksick: If I’m in the Usman camp, I think I want to get attached to Leon’s legs early, so he worries about the fit. I like how Usman likes to attach to the snatch-single and connect to the body lock and then the head-inside single.
I like his transitions and his fluidity, and I like that at the start of the first two rounds because I think you put that wrestling element in Leon’s head because now when you start faking level changes, that thought of being shot – even if you’re not taken down, you still have to worry about it.
The other part is that getting into these wrestling exchanges is going to force the blood to flow into Leon’s arms. Let’s put some pressure on those arms and make him beat, make him wrestle, and doing that in a five-round fight, you’re going to add that cardio element, where we already know Usman is really good in those rounds more deep.
With Leon, I think staying long is very important – use the long jab, use the long cross; I wouldn’t go into any combination of hooks or anything that helps close the distance. I think if you throw kicks I would go to the head – I think that blocks a lot of power shots from Usman.
And kick things off halfway because that will help undo some of those level changes. If Usman changes levels and there’s a middle spike, a middle knee, a cross or an uppercut, it’s a deterrent. Level up with Usman’s level changes.
