Kyte: Coaches see the sport differently and look at the sport differently than anyone else, picking up on different things and paying attention to movements, habits, or intangible pieces that others might not notice, but that could have a significant impact on the action inside the Octagon.
Every matchup offers its own unique collection of elements that might pique a coach’s interest and get them paying a little closer attention to once the fight gets underway.
So what is that one thing in this matchup?
Nicksick: I really wonder — Usman has kind of gone dark. He went on Rogan right away, said, “Hey man, I got beat” and that was really kind of it.
Spence, you and I have talked about this in the past with Usman about the outside of the Octagon distractions — the cars, the this, the that. The things that didn’t seem to be important early on in his career kind of overtook his lifestyle, so I think him going dark — not being on social media, not saying too much, and maybe getting back to his craft, back to where he came from, what got him there in the first place, is the most intriguing thing.
I feel like he’s a man on fire right now, and I’m almost willing to bet that he’s going to try to go out there and get that finish so there isn’t any same-side head kick Hail Mary opportunities. I think he’s a scorned fighter and there will be a mad Kamaru Usman coming at Edwards on Saturday.
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Madden: With Usman being in Colorado for his training camp, I hear and see things because of proximity; I know for certain he’s been working like an absolute madman and training like he’s still champion. So when I see the lack of presence online, to me, that’s him coming back like a madman to show the last one was a fluke and to cement his legacy.
I’m definitely going to be interested to see what this radio silence and time off produces, but my hunch is he’s been working like he’s still champion, but with something massive to prove to the world.
For Leon, I think there are two things for me: first, what changes can he make in this short amount of time to make this fight more competitive?
I know first-hand working with athletes, seven months is nothing — it’s not a lot of time to put new things into someone’s game, to drill them, to implement them into sparring, and then be confident enough to pull them off in a fight. His path to victory is relatively narrow — Kamaru has a lot more options than he does in terms of how he decides to win this fight, so I’m going to be really interested to see what Leon and his team bring to the cage on Saturday that can help him win a couple more rounds because that last fight wasn’t necessarily competitive through that middle stretch.
The other thing is that Leon is the one wearing the crown now, and we’ve heard athletes talk time and time again that the crown is very heavy when you’re on top, especially in a spot like this, where you knocked off the pound-for-pound top guy. The expectations for your follow-up performance against the same guy are massive.
Can he live up to that? Can he do it in his home country, in front of his fans? There is a lot of pressure on Leon, and I’ll be interested to see how the pressure of being champion now and fighting Usman for the third time impacts his performance.
