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Kamaru Usman: World knows I'm the better martial artist and Leon's going to find out

Reflecting now on that knockout defeat to Leon Edwards last August, Kamaru Usman sounds perfectly at peace with it - even if it had prompted a period of serious introspection for the former long-time welterweight champion.

“I believe, honestly, it's been refreshing,” Usman tells The National from his current base in London, days out from this weekend’s trilogy with Edwards that headlines UFC 286 at the O2 Arena. “Because when you're champion, there's just so much noise around you and you don't realise it.

“I guess it's what they call part of the game. There's so much noise around you, so many people around you, to where you start to just get consumed by that and you start drowning in it, but you don't realise it.

“And I was never that guy. I never needed an entourage. I never needed that people around me. I was the guy that you could throw into the fire by himself and I'm going to come out on top at the end of it."

Usman, though, couldn't do that last summer. Three-one up on rounds in his rematch with Edwards at UFC 278 in Salt Lake City, Utah - Usman won their first clash, in 2015, by unanimous decision - and with less than a minute remaining, the champion was caught with left high-kick and sent shuddering to the canvas. In an instant, his lengthy reign was over. It represents one of the great shocks in UFC history.

Usman had been the dominant welterweight champion, unbeaten in 15 straight bouts, the promotion’s pound-for-pound No 1, and marching mercilessly – apparently - towards "Greatest Of All Time" status at 170 lbs. Potentially within the sport, too.

Now, having been conspicuously absent in the interim as he recovered from UFC 278 and rehabbed a hand injury before training sights again on Edwards, Usman has

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