It was a bad night for Nigeria in UFC and boxing fights as Kamaru Usman and Anthony Joshua lost their matches in Saturday.
Kamaru lost his welterweight UFC title to Leon Edwardsb, while Joshua failed his bid to reclaim his belts from Usyk Oleksandr of Ukraine in Saudi Arabia.
While Kamaru was knocked out in the third and final round, Joshua went the entire 12 rounds, and lost by split decision of three judges.
In England where the UFC match took place, as soon as the fight started, Usman immediately knocked Edwards to the ground.
However, the British turned the tables by scoring a takedown of his own and grabbing Usman’s back. In the second round,
“The Nigerian Nightmare” picked up the tempo and began to put together some solid combinations before winning the round with another takedown.
In the third round, Usman completely outclassed Edwards on the mat by alternating his submission attempts with blows.
To keep the battle on the feet, the Brit’s corner team urged him to attempt to resist Usman’s takedowns, but Edwards was becoming slower as the rounds went by.
In the fourth round, Usman continued to exert constant pressure, but Edwards unexpectedly delivered a flawless high kick that knocked Usman out cold and caused referee Herb Dean to immediately call time on the fight.
This is the second time Joshua was beaten by Usyk.
Anthony Joshua was furious after his defeat to Oleksandr Usyk
Anthony Joshua stormed out of the ring in fury and threw two belts out of the ring after being beaten on points by Oleksandr Usyk.
But Joshua was visibly emotional after the split decision was announced as he picked up two of the belts and slammed them to the ground.
He then stormed out of the ring as his team attempted to restrain him before he was convinced to return to the ring.
He briefly spoke to Usyk before grabbing the microphone and launching an impassioned monologue about the fight in which he praised Usyk as a champion.