UFC welterweight Leon Edwards was born into poverty in Kingston, Jamaica; the family lived in a wooden shack.
“It wasn’t a one-bedroom; it was one room,” said Edwards to Mark Raimondi for ESPN. “In that room was the kitchen, the living room and the bedroom. We had one bed that we all slept in. That was most people’s upbringing where I’m from. It was tough, but as a kid, it just seemed normal because everyone around you was living the same way. I was still happy as a kid. My mom and my dad provided me with most things I wanted in life. It was never a sad story.”
When he was 9 the family moved to a UK-poor neighborhood in Birmingham, England. At 14 his father was murdered in a London nightclub.
“It f***ed me up. It pushed me more into gang life and crime, toward the negative,” Edwards explained. “My mid-teens were my darkest years. My crew was involved with fights, robberies, and stabbings. We sold some drugs. … There were a few things I did during this time that I truly regret. It’s hard to believe it was me who did it. It’s like a different life. I don’t like talking about it. And I try every day to make up for them.”
At 17 he chanced upon Ultimate Training Center, and despite being barely able to afford dues, his mother recognized it as a vehicle keep her son off the streets. Edwards shone quickly, and after a few months, he started working with kids at the gym in exchange for a membership.
“Most of the young black kids in the neighborhood … They were seeing my success and trying to follow my path,” said Edwards. “I’m very proud of that. That’s one of my main things: When you see someone successful who came from where you came from and now he’s doing good in something, you want to follow it.”
“I do everything I can for my family and others because I know what could have been. There were people I knew who are still stuck in that situation I was in, and they’re either dead, in prison or dead broke. That could have happened to me. That was the life. I’d probably be in the same position they’re in if things didn’t work out differently. I still don’t know why it did. That’s why I go back to my old high school, Aston Manor Academy … I tell them where I started and that where you start doesn’t matter, it’s where you end up that matters. You can control your life. You don’t have to be what anybody wants you to be. Control your life and you can be anything in life.”
“What if my dad didn’t bring me to the United Kingdom? What if my gym never opened in the Erdington neighborhood of Birmingham, England? It’s just mad — it’s a crazy thing,” said Edwards. “Why was I the one who made it off the streets of Kingston, Jamaica, who escaped the killing, the drugs and the poverty when so many others didn’t? I don’t have the answer, really. But I do know I have a purpose. It’s not just to be a UFC fighter or the future welterweight champion of the world. It’s more than that.”
