Leon Edwards has questioned the idea that Kamaru Usman is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the UFC.

This Saturday night at UFC 278, Leon Edwards will get the chance to become just the second British UFC champion ever. The man known as ‘Rocky’ hasn’t lost across his last 10 fights and yet, he’s still considered to be a big underdog.

The reason for that is because he’s going up against the current welterweight king Kamaru Usman.

‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ has turned away a parade of challengers including Colby Covington, Jorge Masvidal and Gilbert Burns, essentially wiping out 90% of the competition at the top of the division.

Of course, if he wants to continue to climb up through the rankings in terms of historical relevancy, he needs to keep on winning - and that’s going to be tough against a determined Leon Edwards who has been waiting years for a crack at the gold.

ALL THE INFO: UFC 278: Date, Announced Fight Card, Location, Kamaru Usman and more

There’s been a lot of talk about where Usman ranks in the P4P conversation right now but for Edwards, he isn’t so convinced.

“All this pound-for-pound talk, I don’t see it. I don’t see it in his fights, I don’t see it in his techniques. He’s a very good fighter, he has improved,” Edwards said. “I’m not going to into this flight blind thinking he’s another wrestler, but I just don’t see it.”

Edwards went on to admit that he could picture a trilogy between the two if he does pick up the upset win.

“100 percent. He’s been a dominant champion, so naturally in sport in boxing or MMA, when you defend the belt a couple of times or been dominant, you get a rematch. So, I definitely envision doing it again.”

One step beyond

If Kamaru Usman can get past Leon Edwards and Khamzat Chimaev beats Nate Diaz, there’s a pretty good chance the two will square off for the UFC welterweight championship either at the end of 2022 or the start of 2023.

A win for Usman in that bout would almost certainly put him up there with Georges St-Pierre in the welterweight GOAT discussion, but as we all know, underestimating the unpredictability of MMA is often a big mistake.