Kamaru Usman lost his welterweight title to British fighter Leon Edwards at UFC 278, but that didn’t stop him from making a lot of money after the fight.
In their title match at UFC 278 in August, Usman (20-2 MMA, 15-1 UFC) and Edwards (20-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC) were both brutally knocked out. With less than a minute remaining, he dropped the welterweight title.
Usman received a flat fee of $500,000 (N213,630,000), according to salary made public by the Pete Suazo Utah Athletic Commission, for the August 20 pay-per-view main event, which he ultimately lost by knockout in the fifth round. While Leon Edwards received a fixed $350,000 for his victory.
Meanwhile Edwards does not believe that Usman is handling his UFC title loss as well as he has portrayed himself.
Edwards caught Usman with a perfect head kick and handed him his first octagon loss. The former champion said he was relieved to lose his title and even laughed with Joe Rogan about the loss. But Edwards doesn’t think his reaction is genuine.
“It’s weird, right? Because to go from that cocky guy to now, ‘I’m happy to get knocked out and it’s a relief,’ I just don’t believe it,” Edwards told BT Sport. “For me, I hope, like I said, I never get to a stage where I’m happy for a loss, you know? It’s weird. The way he’s handling it is the only way he could handle it, right? He couldn’t come out and be, like, salty. So we’ll see. I don’t know.
“It’s weird the way he’s going along with it. I feel like he’s overdoing it. It is what it is. He was the champion. He thought he couldn’t be beat. He’d been beat. That’s just the game.”
With their series tied 1-1, Edwards is expecting a match in the UK with Usman for his first title defense, but admits a grudge match with Jorge Masvidal is still on his mind.
“Yeah, 100 percent,” Edwards said. “I believe Usman 3 next year is probably the frontrunner unless something dramatic happened in the next however months that are left this year. I love the Masvidal one. I know he hasn’t earned it, but I would love for him to go out there, fight somebody in October or something like a (Gilbert) Burns or something. Just get one in – one good win.”
“Go in there, smoke Burns – I can’t see him beating Burns, but let’s say he does go out there and smoke Burns … imagine the scenes in the U.K. I truly believe that would be a bigger fight in the U.K. than Usman. I know Usman is a tough guy, but for the U.K. casual fans, I think that’s the fight for the U.K. But like I said, it doesn’t matter to me. Whoever comes first comes first.
