A welterweight title trilogy bout between Leon Edwards and former champion Kamaru Usman will take place in the main event of UFC 286 on March 18 in London, UFC president Dana White said Saturday night.
Edwards won the title by knocking out Usman in the fifth round of their UFC 278 main event bout in August. Usman had beaten Edwards previously in a nontitle fight in 2015.
ESPN has Usman ranked No. 3 and Edwards ranked No. 7 on its pound-for-pound MMA list.
Edwards (20-3, 1 NC) is unbeaten in 11 straight fights dating back to that loss to Usman eight years ago. The Jamaica native, who lives and trains in Birmingham, England, was down on the cards going into the fifth and final round with Usman in August before knocking him out with under one minute left.
Edwards, 31, has a 12-2 (1 NC) record in the UFC.
Usman (20-2) had a 15-fight winning streak snapped by Edwards. A win in that August bout would have tied him with Anderson Silva (16) for the UFC record winning streak. The Nigerian-born fighter, who lives in Florida and trains out of Colorado, had five successful welterweight title defenses, tying him for second-most ever in the UFC 170-pound division with Matt Hughes.
Usman, 35, came into the UFC by winning The Ultimate Fighter 21 in 2015.