At 170, subtlety seems to have become something of a lost art. This applies in multiple ways; the characters that fighters play have gotten far more bombastic, but the fights have also gotten a good deal simpler. After the days of Georges Saint-Pierre, a fighter whose approach compounded in brilliant fashion across the entire scope of the sport, the elite of the division seemed to fill with specialists at an alarming pace. In fact, the most dominant champion since GSP feasted on this tendency alone; Tyron Woodley could enforce an unspectacular wrestling game on strikers and an unspectacular striking game on grapplers, with minimal connective tissue or even consistency between them, and yet it worked beautifully for years due to a strong athletic base.

Perhaps this trend is why Leon Edwards has seemed like a bit of a throwback, as a fighter who makes his living on command in every phase. In a field of fighters who weaponize power or pace or aggression, Edwards’ approach does none of that; instead, he’s built a unique and cohesive set of skills, and it has led to most of his opponents looking painfully mediocre next to him. Of course, it’s difficult to gain attention with wins this way, especially when the rest of the field is dynamic to a fault; that said, the results have spoken for themselves, as “Rocky” has amassed a deceptively deep resume at 170 from getting no favors on his way up.

An all-rounder like none other at 170, Leon Edwards can lay credible claim to being a pound-for-pound talent, even as he’s yet to win a belt; for all but a handful of fighters, he has proven as big a problem to fight as he has been to promote.

Southpaw v2

In general, southpaws in MMA tend to follow a similar pattern, which isn’t a surprise since orthodox fighters don’t tend to have a consistent way of dealing with stock southpaw tactics; the open-stance gives the practiced man a few easy targets and the less-practiced man opportunities to overextend on rear-hands and get countered, and the southpaw tends to be the more practiced man. Edwards isn’t an exception, but he is a better example than most of building off that structure and doing it smartly.