Kamaru Usman sees Carlos Prates as the perfect opportunity for Leon Edwards to rebound.
Edwards (22-5 MMA, 14-4 UFC) will look to snap a two-fight losing streak against red-hot welterweight Prates (22-7 MMA, 5-1 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 322 (pay-per-view, ESPNews/Disney+/FX, ESPN+) headliner at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Former champion Edwards is coming off lopsided losses to Belal Muhammad and Sean Brady. Usman was just on a losing skid himself, with two of his three losses coming to Edwards, but was able to return to the win column by defeating Joaquin Buckley in June. He sees Prates as a good stylistic opportunity for Edwards.
“That’s up to him,” Usman told MMA Junkie of Edwards. “Me personally, that wasn’t a thing for me. For him, it’s how he handles that because it’s not just, ‘Oh, I dropped the fight.’ It was, ‘I got dominated big time in both of those fights, and then I got finished in one of the fights.’ So it would be how his mental is getting through that fight, but I think a good thing he has going for him here is he’s potentially facing another striker. In those fights, he was primarily fighting grapplers, and he was dominated by grapplers.
“That question really still hasn’t been answered on whether he can deal with an aggressive grappler, but now he’s getting a shot to go to a young, hungry and dangerous striker. We’ll see if this is something that he can deal with. A lot easier because he is primarily a striker, but if not, it puts you in a dangerous situation because no one wants to drop three, and certainly you don’t want to be dominated or potentially finished in two out of those three fights. We’ll see how he deals with it and how he handles the pressure, but Leon is very skilled. He’s shown that in the past. I mean, he was able to become the champion and defend.”
Odds do not favor Edwards to rebound. According to FanDuel, Edwards is a +154 underdog against Brazil’s Prates, who is a -192 favorite.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC 322: Carlos Prates should be ‘a lot easier’ for Leon Edwards
