Yves Edwards - one of the best (and most overlooked) LW's ever

[Agent Mulder's Hair]

Dude was the uncrowned UFC Lightweight champion, and he got screwed over when the UFC dissolved the division. But he is rarely mentioned in GOAT LW's discussions around here, and that's just wrong. Edwards was one of my favorite fighters to watch back around like '04, iirc. Rarely in a boring fight. Slick striking and slick jiu jitsu (thug-jitsu). I remember thinking back then that Yves was the closest thing to Bruce Lee that we had in mma. He made crazy fights against good opponents look effortless. We got robbed never seeing prime Yves vs prime BJ, that would've been nuts.

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[BjPenn2017]

Definitely one of the most underrated lightweights of all time. I remember watching him fight Ferguson and thought the judges were gonna give it to Yves. Uncrowned LW champ at one point. Had a decent final run in the ufc especially for his age, his last hurrah was definitely knocking out Stephens though. Always liked watched him fight win or lose always entertaining.

 

[BC]

Yves Edwards was the shit dude, I've always been a fan, his KO over Thomson is still one of my favorite knockouts of all time.

 

[Goodfella86]

Good thread. He won the unofficial title when he fought Josh Thomson. Hr also gave mma one of its best highlights that night.

He's one of those truly exciting mma fighters. A versatile technician. I loved watching him grapple as much I loved watching him strike. I can watch an Yves Edwards long decision fight and still thoroughly enjoy it.

 

[SuperLuigi]

One of the best LWs before the division had a clear ruler. He is the Igor Vovchanchyn of LW.

 

[BoxingFan653]

I've had the privledge of being coached by him in his classes. He's phenomenal and kind at what he does

 

[Agent Mulder's Hair]

Good thread. He won the unofficial title when he fought Josh Thomson. Hr also gave mma one of its best highlights that night.

He's one of those truly exciting mma fighters. A versatile technician. I loved watching him grapple as much I loved watching him strike. I can watch an Yves Edwards long decision fight and still thoroughly enjoy it.

He always stood out because he had such obvious natural talent. You could tell just from the way he moved in fights that THAT guy was a real freaking martial artist.

 

[Agent Mulder's Hair]

One of the best LWs before the division had a clear ruler. He is the Igor Vovchanchyn of LW.

Lol that's actually a pretty good comparison.

 

[beastman]

Yves did some underground stuff back in the day. He'd fight in gyms on wrestling mats: http://mmablaster.blogspot.in/2013/07/video-of-day-yves-edwards.html

 

[Codpiece]

Yves Edwards was the shit dude, I've always been a fan, his KO over Thomson is still one of my favorite knockouts of all time.

Right on!

And good thread/gifs from @Agent Mulder's Hair !

 

[HuskySamoan]

Yves has always been a great fighter, a great coach and a great human being. I think of him as one of the true pioneers of the Lightweight division. Here's a nice highlight of him.

 

[BC]

Right on!

And good thread/gifs from @Agent Mulder's Hair !

I actually got to see his fight with Stephens live with my brothers, that was a brutal KO. Good thread indeed @Agent Mulder's Hair

 

[HuskySamoan]

Yves Edwards was the shit dude, I've always been a fan, his KO over Thomson is still one of my favorite knockouts of all time.

Headkicks from back body lock position is a seriously underutilized technique more people need to consider.

 

[BC]

Headkicks from back body lock position is a seriously underutilized technique more people need to consider.

Amen bruddah

 

[Codpiece]

I actually got to see his fight with Stephens live with my brothers, that was a brutal KO. Good thread indeed @Agent Mulder's Hair

Jealous. It's one of my favourites. Yves was one cool cat.

 

[BC]

Jealous. It's one of my favourites. Yves was one cool cat.

His weigh ins were the best too

 

[Agent Mulder's Hair]

Yves did some underground stuff back in the day. He'd fight in gyms on wrestling mats: http://mmablaster.blogspot.in/2013/07/video-of-day-yves-edwards.html

Yep. He beats 3 dudes in a row. And it says at this point, Yves had only been training for 1 year






And here he is fighting a last minute replacement opponent, who outweighed Yves by 20 lbs. And a very drunk Bas Rutten coaching/cornering Yves.

 

[XThe GreatestX]

I remember mayorga bitchslapping him and him tripping and looking like a jackass lol. But yeah he was actually a pretty good fighter

edit: Din Thomas my bad lol

 

[HuskySamoan]

Amen bruddah

Think about it, they have little to no visual of you, their hands are usually down at their waist trying to fight the lock or lower their base to not get taken down and the roundkick comes around and strikes the side of the head, not the back of the head so its entirely legal. People don't see it coming (figuratively and literally) it's one of those adaptations to striking that doesn't exist in other striking arts but it's effective for sure. Michael Johnson dropped Madaddi with it too. You just need good leg dexterity to kick in close like that, but great technique.

 

[VitorReem]

Yeh he's awesome.