Leon Edwards has taken a long road to the top.

The UFC’s new welterweight king grew up in Kingston, Jamaica with his father, mother and brother in a wooden shack with a zinc roof.

“It wasn’t a one-bedroom; it was one room, period,” Edwards wrote in a feature for ESPN in 2019.

“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.

“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.”

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Edwards’ life could have been very different if he had not been introduced to MMA after his family moved to Birmingham, coming across an Ultimate Training Center while walking in Erdington.

“My mom wanted me to join to get me off the streets,” Edwards wrote.

“I didn’t really know what MMA was.”

Now, Edwards is at the top of the UFC’s welterweight division, having stunned pound-for-pound king Kamaru Usman and the new champion had an emotional message post-fight.

“I can’t put it into words, Joe. It’s been a long, long four years,” he said.

“You all doubted me that I couldn’t do it. Look at me now. Look at it: pound-for-pound, headshot, dead. That’s it.”

The title shot was a long time coming for Edwards, who had only previously fought twice since the Covid-19 pandemic struck in early 2020.

He was supposed to face Khamzat Chimaev but that fight was cancelled three times while his match-up with Belal Muhammad was cut short after an accidental eye poke.

Usman, on the other hand, had defended his title four times in 16 months and if the opening four rounds were anything to go by, Edwards simply looked out of his depth.

But doubt Edwards at your own peril.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m from the trenches. I’ve been doubted my whole life,” he said.

“Look at me now, look at me know. I told you it’s possible, we can win a belt from the UK. I told you, look at me now. I told you I can do it.

“Pound-for-pound what? There is no pound-for-pound. That belt belongs to nobody. I told you I’d do it for you mum, I told you I’d change our f***ing life. I told you I’d do it. Now look at us now.”

Edwards was even more emotional when calling his mother on FaceTime after the fight, telling Joe Rogan that he simply “felt like this was” his “moment” to seize.

“I can’t explain it. God is on my side,” he said.

“I said it all week, I felt like this was my moment. Everything that happened in the past, the two years out, the pandemic, all of it... there is no ring rust, I told you that already now look at me now... champion of the world.

“Look at me now. I was born in Jamaica with nothing, I lived in a wooden shed, look at me now.”

As for what could happen now, UFC boss Dana White told reporters in the post-fight press conference that there needs to be a rematch and wants it to take place in England.

Usman’s defeat will also have an immediate impact on the pound-for-pound rankings, with Australian featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski likely to take top spot.