What martial arts does Leon Edwards use?

Arguably one of the most underrated UFC fighters of all time, Leon Edwards carved out a solid record for himself as a Welterweight fighter. However, one of the reasons why Edwards is underrated may be due to his fighting style.

Undoubtedly, he is highly effective and usually wins. At the same time, many casual MMA fans have labeled him boring as he rarely finishes his opponents. Arguably, this is quite a harsh viewpoint when his livelihood and health are on the line.

Nonetheless, fans are of course entitled to their opinions. Having said this, hopefully this article will shine a light on the talents of Edwards and just how good he is when it comes to mixed martial arts.

Leon Edwards knows boxing

Aside from decision wins, Leon Edwards often wins by using striking as well. To be more precise, he has quite a few knockout victories in his locker too that come from boxing. This isn’t surprising as he originally started out as a boxer. In fact, Leon Edwards has one of the fastest knockout victories in MMA ever. Here, he knocked out Seth Baczynski in just 8 seconds. In brief, there’s a reason why his nickname is ‘Rocky’.

This makes sense too, considering one of his main training partners is his brother, Fabian Edwards. A fighter in Bellator, Fabian’s nickname is ‘Mr tasty shots’ which is a nod toward his powerful strikes. If you watch Leon Edwards, he will often combine strikes from his feet with wrestling against the cage. This not only scores him points but also tires down his opponents whilst slowly picking them off.

The result is a high number of decision victories which is to be expected. Although he doesn’t formally train it, Leon Edwards is also skilled in Muay Thai and kickboxing as well. So, you will sometimes see him use his feet, knees, and elbows to knock out his opponents as well. Due to his long limbs, this makes sense. Despite being down in his title fight against Kamaru Usman, Edwards would win late on by a TKO headkick.

Leon Edwards knows wrestling

If you’ve watched a Leon Edwards fight, then you’ll understand that he knows how to grapple. Mostly, Edwards uses his wrestling defensively to avoid takedowns. Although he can hit takedowns, most of the time he prefers to stick to striking.

Interestingly though, Edwards’ wrestling is a bit more nuanced than that. Often, he will use wrestling to put his opponent on the cage. From there, he will combine wrestling with striking and slowly but surely pick away at his opponent. This often means stalking the opponent down and dominating the inside of the cage, then walking onto them with strikes and upper body clinches.

If possible, he will try to put people on the floor. However, a lot of the time, Edwards is comfortable fighting against the case and sneaking punches in whenever possible. As you may have noticed, this style of fighting is gritty and unpleasant – but it gets Edwards results. Having said this, Edwards was the first man to successfully take down Kamaru Usman during his title win. Here, he did an inside reap to gain mount position.

Leon Edwards knows BJJ

Leon Edwards also has a purple belt in BJJ that was awarded to him by Chiu Kwong Man. Like many top MMA fighters though, you could argue that Edwards was closer to black belt in terms of his skill level.

Like his rival Kamaru Usman, Edwards isn’t known for hitting too many submissions though, and in his professional career he’s only won two fights by submitting his opponents. In other words, he usually goes for a more cautious approach and uses BJJ to control and pin, rather than submit. This means opting for strikes and ground and pound, as opposed to trying for a submission finish.

Arguably, this sums up Edwards’ fighting style which isn’t flashy but certainly gets the job done in terms of results. It’s also handy if he does get taken down, where he uses BJJ to defend and escape bad positions.

Summary

You could say that Leon Edward’s fighting style is very much of its time and is often very patient and low-risk. Here, Edwards tries to stay on his feet and box, often by using grappling against the cage to close the distance and slowly beat down his opponent’s defenses.

For anyone to have had over 20 wins in MMA, you have to be respectful of their craft. Not only this but Edwards has beaten some pretty tough guys during this time and was never fed cans. In summary, Edwards is primarily a striker but his grappling is not to be laughed at either. As he is well-rounded with endless heart, he often proves difficult for fighters to find answers for.