The Bottom Line: Overdue Overseas

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Quick, when was the last time before UFC 286 that the Ultimate Fighting Championship ran a pay-per-view from Europe? You have to go back further than you might think—all the way back to 2016, when Dan Henderson fought for the last time and challenged Michael Bisping for the UFC middleweight title in Manchester, England. This gap is even more striking given the UFC has run 20 pay-per-view events from outside the United States since the last time it ran a PPV in Europe: four in Brazil, four in Canada, four in Australia, seven in the United Arab Emirates and one in Singapore.

This is certainly not a negative reflection on MMA in Europe. The sport remains popular, the fans passionate and the major markets financially lucrative. Unfortunately, the continent is a victim of geography. Cards in Asia and Oceania can be scheduled to run in the evening in North and South America. Those in Western Europe and Western Africa either need to run in the middle of the night locally or in the afternoon in America, where it has been definitively proven through years of experimentation that an earlier start cuts into pay-per-view revenue. Thus, Europe has been resigned to exclusively television cards for nearly seven full years despite the biggest drawing card in the history of the sport hailing from the continent.

Given this history and the UFC’s natural inclinations, it takes something special to run a PPV from the United Kingdom, like one of its native sons fighting for the title. Leon Edwards’ career may not have been as attention-grabbing as that of the popular and often polarizing Bisping, but he has had a dream of a last year, befitting his “Rocky” nickname. Now he returns home to defend his crown against the man who he shockingly unseated. It’s like the reverse Matt Serra-Georges St. Pierre 2.

In less than a month, the UFC will headline two pay-per-views with high-profile rematches. Israel Adesanya-Alex Pereira will almost surely do bigger business. Adesanya is a bigger star than Kamaru Usman; it also has Jorge Masvidal on the card in Miami, and it has a normal UFC PPV start time. Still, for my money, UFC 286 on Saturday in London is the more compelling event. It pits Justin Gaethje, the most enthralling action fighter since Wanderlei Silva, against a fighter with a nasty knockout streak of his own in Rafael Fiziev. It will have an electric atmosphere. Most importantly, it has the more intriguing headliner.

That’s not to dismiss Adesanya-Pereira, two longtime rivals who had an exciting bout the first time out in the UFC. However, that fight is taking place mostly because of a coincidence of styles. Pereira was fast tracked to a title shot because of his history with Adesanya and matches up better against “The Last Stylebender” than most fighters in the division. Even if Pereira wins, the odds are decent to good his next opponent exploits his less developed ground game and it’s not long before that same opponent is fighting Adesanya for the title with the only difference being who heads into that bout with the belt. By contrast, Usman-Edwards 3 is for control of their division.

Edwards’ seven-year unbeaten streak was overlooked by most because of the nature of his style and because Usman’s simultaneous streak was even more impressive. If he manages to beat Usman twice, all of a sudden, his run will be viewed in a completely different light. It seems unlikely he’ll beat Usman again given how most of their first two fights went, but a major knockout can shift the way both fighters compete the next time out. Usman was fighting with such confidence when it came to his improved striking, while Edwards has seen that “The Nigerian Nightmare” has vulnerabilities to be exploited and he was already successful in doing so.

Winning the title over a great champion is an impressive accomplishment, but it doesn’t always capture the public imagination. Sometimes, fans just don’t care about the new champion all that much, no matter how impressively he wins. In the case of Edwards, there are signs that fans have really gotten behind him in a way that wasn’t the case in the past. His victory speech after defeating Usman was genuinely inspirational, and since then, when he is shown in the crowd, he usually gets huge receptions from those in attendance. Now he gets to take in the adoration of his biggest supporters and try to prove that the biggest win of his career was no fluke. There’s a lot still to gain even coming off such a monumental upset.

Usman, too, has much to gain. Before the Edwards kick, there was discussion about whether he might be the greatest welterweight of all-time rather than St. Pierre. Part of what made GSP’s resume so impressive was that he unavenged his only losses. Now, Usman has the chance to avenge his only UFC defeat and take the shine back from Edwards. It’s the type of fight London has long waited for and the type of fight it deserves.