Leon Edwards Details Life as an Immigrant In UK

UFC welterweight Leon Edwards has had a rough life. His family moved from Jamaica to England when he was 9, and then he lost his father when he was 13. His own life was mired with criminal activities during his teenage years, and he barely got out of it because of MMA.

In an episode of the UFC’s new series, Becoming a fighter, ‘Rocky’ talked about his troubled childhood and how it was to be an immigrant in the UK. The #3 ranked welterweight said, “I remember the first time, landed in the UK and how cold it was and how different it was… It was crazy as a kid,” Edwards said.

“Being an immigrant, coming to a new country… broken English, Jamaican, it was still English, but like broken, you know,” he revealed. Their move to England from Jamaica was tough for the entire family, not just because of the language barrier, but also because of the socio-economic factors.

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“We first came, we kinda like get into fights with other kids teasing how you speak, but well eventually, I start making friends and start being more involved,” Edwards said. He made friends, but his company was harmful to him in the long run.

‘Rocky’, who saved himself from that life because of MMA, is now one of the UFC’s best fighters. Edwards has an amazing record of 18-3-1, with his last fight ending in a no-contest due to an accidental eye poke. He has not lost in his last nine fights and he will now fight UFC superstar Nate Diaz next.

Leon Edwards vs. Nate Diaz: A possible number one contender’s match

Edwards and Diaz were supposed to fight at UFC 262, but the fight had to be postponed after Diaz suffered a minor injury. Hence, they will now fight on the main card of UFC 263, which is headlined by a middleweight title fight between Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori.

Edwards sits behind Colby Covington and Gilbert Burns in the UFC welterweight rankings. However, both of them lost their title fights against Kamaru Usman, and hence, a win for either fighter here could earn them a title shot against ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’.

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Do you think that Leon Edwards can beat Nate Diaz?