It was the end of the fourth round. The columns were all half-written, the bets five minutes from cashing. Kamaru Usman was comfortably ahead on the scorecards and cruising to a sixth consecutive defense of his UFC welterweight title. The end was just five minutes of formality, of the continued slow crush of Usman’s dominance away.
And now one seemed to know it more than poor Leon Edwards.
“A dejected challenger,” observed color commentator Joe Rogan.
“Yeah,” agreed fellow broadcaster Daniel Cormier.
The fifth began with the broadcasters predicting Edwards was far behind on the scorecards and that the challenger would need to find a stoppage in order to win.