Leon “Rocky” Edwards (9-2), 23, is a Jamican-born, Birmingham-based welterweight. He joined the UFC in late-2014, shortly after capturing the BAMMA British Welterweight title. He was unfortunate in his promotional debut, losing a narrow-split decision to Claudio Da Silva, but was able to make amends in his second attempt, violently knocking out Seth Baczynski in just eight seconds back in April.
Edwards is renowned for his quick and powerful striking, which has helped him dispatch five of his nine conquests thus far. The southpaws primary weapon is his left-hand, which is most effective when he throws it straight down the middle off of the jab. He is also very dangerous from the clinch and uses the single collar tie well to hold his opponents in place whilst he feeds them on a steady diet of uppercuts and knees. Edwards does have kicks in his repertoire- his left high-kick is especially powerful, however the bulk of his striking offence comes from his boxing.
Although his preference is clearly to strike, Edwards is no slouch on the mat either. He is defensively very sound and is excellent at capitalising on small openings to return to his feet- even BJJ black belt Claudio Silva struggled to contain him on the mat. Getting him to the mat is no easy feat either, as Edwards is agile and tends to remain light on his feet. The bulk of his offensive grappling is spawned by tidy trips from the clinch position and once on top he bases well and is difficult to budge.
Pawel “Platinho” Pawlak (11-1) is a 26-year old welterweight from Lodz in central Poland. He was picked-up by the UFC after winning his first ten professional mixed martial arts bouts, with nine of those victories coming via stoppage. Like Edwards he fell short in his UFC debut, with Pawlak succumbing to the slick grappling of fellow countryman Peter Sobotta. He was able to rebound impressively in his second Octagon outing however, where he thoroughly dominated Canadian veteran Sheldon Westcott for a clear-cut decision win.
Pawlak comes from a kickboxing background, however the current striking he has displayed thus far in the UFC hasn’t been too impressive. He’s aggressive, has ok fundamentals and throws a decent variety of strikes, but has not shown to be particularly threatening outside of his knee-induced knockdown of the aforementioned Westcott. In fairness to Pawlak his stand-up looked slicker prior to his UFC career, so it may be an issue of him getting comfortable enough to correctly implement it inside the Octagon.
Although striking is his forte, Pawlak is well-rounded and has developed good grappling skills both in the clinch and on the mat. Like Edwards, his primary method of bringing the fight to the mat is via the clinch, where he usually favours Judo throws or trips. Pawlak is very aggressive from top position and aims to overwhelm his foes with his consistent ground and pound.
In my opinion, Edwards offers as much promise as any UK-based fighter currently in the UFC; he has the athleticism to match anyone in the division and has recently broadened his horizons by training at the world class American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, California. Pawlak’s trajectory on the other hand isn’t nearly as promising, with him not displaying any outstanding skills thus far.
If Edwards remains patient and waits for Pawlak to overcommit he should win this bout handily. His punches are considerably more potent than Pawlak’s and he will also hold a significant speed advantage too. I expect him to diffuse the Poles attempts to clinch whilst battering him with quick-fire punches. Pawlak might able to drag him to the mat once or twice, but I doubt he’ll be able to keep him for there for too long. “Rocky” has the power to end this at any point, however I envision him breaking the Pole in the final stanza after comfortably out-striking him for the first two rounds.
Prediction: Leon Edwards via TKO (Punches) in Round 3
