UFC champion Kamaru Usman has explained why beating Leon Edwards could ‘break’ the Brit at UFC 278.

In the main event of UFC 278 on Saturday night, Leon Edwards will challenge Kamaru Usman for the UFC welterweight championship. Birmingham’s finest has managed to put together a 10-fight unbeaten streak in order to finally earn his crack at the gold, whereas Usman is attempting to successfully defend the belt for the sixth time - after already seeing off the challenges of Jorge Masvidal, Gilbert Burns and Colby Covington.

Edwards knows that this could be his one and only shot at winning the big one and as such, he’ll be preparing accordingly, with many noting how calm and sharp he looks during fight week.

‘Rocky’ has also been talking about how his inactivity and time off could actually help him for this bout in comparison to Usman, who has been through a few wars in recent years, most notably against Covington.

During an interview, ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ noted how Edwards’ training probably isn’t going to mean that much come fight night.

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

“Practice is practice. Nobody gives a s*** what you can do in practice. If you’re not out there doing it against the best in the world, time and time again, then how do you know where your level really is? So, it is what it is. I’m glad he got that time off. I’m glad he’s healed up, he’s strong.

“The one thing about that though is he has to be careful. You feel that and that’s gassing you up, you feel jazzed up about that. But what happens when this guy who has been in the wars, taken ‘punishment’ as you said, comes out and dominates you again? How do you feel about that, and how bad does that break you on the inside as a man?”

Running it back

The key part of Usman’s quote there, ‘again’, refers to the fact that these warriors battled it out once before in December 2015.

While Edwards kept things pretty competitive in the first round of that contest, Usman’s dominant wrestling allowed him to take over and eventually secure the decision win.

Whether or not he can do the same this time around remains to be seen, but that psychological edge can’t be overlooked.