Leon Edwards' coach doubts Kamaru Usman will recover from UFC 278 knockout

Leon Edwards‘ coach Dave Lovell doesn’t think Kamaru Usman will ever be the same again after getting knocked out in the main event of UFC 278.

Edwards, 31, shocked the world by knocking Usman out cold in the fifth round of their rematch at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City to become the new UFC welterweight champion.

It was arguably one of the biggest upsets in recent MMA history.

And Lovell believes Usman may find it difficult to bounce back from the first knockout loss of his career.

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Lovell told MMA Junkie: “Kamaru, in his early career, he got choked out before his UFC days.

“He has never been knocked out in this fashion before. And being a coach, being in this game for a long time, there’s a few other coaches I heard I think Khabib mentioned this point I’m trying to make here.

“When a man gets knocked out cold in that fashion, let me tell you, not only can it change his fighting potentially, it can potentially change his life.

“And especially Kamaru’s got that bully come forward style aggression. When a bully gets tamed and gets knocked out in that fashion, physically, he can get his body back, ready to come back, but can he mentally? That’s yet to play out.

“Does Kamaru come back a gun-shy fighter? Can he overcome it in this short amount of time, what Dana is talking about? Me, personally, I don’t think he can.”

As for what’s next for Edwards, Lovell has a few potential opponents the UFC champion could face in his return to the Octagon.

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He added: “So therefore, reading between the lines which I often do, and they’ve got