UFC 286 press conference LIVE: Highlights as Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman face off

Today’s press conference is taking place at Magazine in North Greenwich.

It’s a huge, warehouse-like building, and it’s packed with fans.

The UFC 286 press conference is about to get under way!

The Independent is on the ground in North Greenwich, London, to provide you with live updates.

Leon Edwards, Kamaru Usman, Justin Gaethje and Rafael Fiziev will all be on stage.

Here’s more from Kamaru Usman’s media-day appearance on Wednesday:

“I go in there to dominate, I go in there to win, that has never changed. It’s time for me to go in there and get violent.

“I’ve felt violent going into three fights. I felt violent going into the Sergio Moraes fight [in 2017], because I’d been asking for a top-15 [opponent], and I felt disrespected that the UFC matchmakers kept giving me guys that weren’t in the top 15. I felt very, very violent and resentful, and I wanted to show that. We saw what happened [Usman knocked out Moraes in Round 1].”

Here’s Usman on the other two fights in which he had a ‘violent’ mindset, as he revealed that he is starting to feel that way about Saturday’s main event...

And here is what Kamaru Usman told The Independent on Wednesday, reflecting on the moments that followed his knockout loss to Leon Edwards last August:

The Independent was present at the UFC 286 media day on Wednesday, and here is what Leon Edwards had to say about Kamaru Usman...

Look at Leon Edwards, and you’ll see gold and green. The romantics will see it in the flicker of the Jamaican flag behind him; the cynics will see it in the glint of his UFC title and the money he can generate.

When the softly spoken, Kingston-born welterweight became Britain’s second ever UFC champion in August – fighting from behind to knock out Kamaru Usman with a minute left on the clock – British MMA finally had a moment to eclipse Michael Bisping’s title win in 2016.

That was not only due to the miraculous nature of Edwards’ victory, which came courtesy of a head kick from the heavens against the pound-for-pound king, a man who had already beaten Edwards; it was also due to the context of the 31-year-old having suffered setback after setback for years leading up to his eventual title shot.

Nothing, seemingly, could rob the moment of its romance, and Edwards’ impending bout also seemed impervious. Why, then, would anyone be disappointed by UFC 286 before it has even begun?

Here is why:

“How times change,” Leon Edwards remarks. When the UFC welterweight champion ventures into the heart of the O2 Arena on Saturday, he will be doing so almost three years to the day after the venue’s veins suffered an untimely blockage.

In 2020, Edwards was due for a main-event showdown with former champion Tyron Woodley, only for the onset of the Covid pandemic to consign the fight to an ether of lost contests. “I was heartbroken, devastated,” Edwards says.

But how times change. And this, a defiant Edwards insists, is his time.

Read our interview with Edwards ahead of his first title defence, against Kamaru Usman this weekend:

The UFC 286 press conference takes place in London today, as Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman come face to face ahead of their main-event clash.

Edwards knocked out Usman in stunning fashion in August, taking the welterweight title from the Nigerian-American in the final minute of their rematch – seven years after losing to Usman on points.

The old foes will square off once more on Saturday, in a trilogy bout at the O2 Arena in London, as Edwards defends the belt for the first time.

In the co-main event, former lightweight title challenger Justin Gaethje faces rising contender Rafael Fiziev, and both men will appear at today’s press conference in the English capital.