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Leon Edwards: Saved by sport

How UFC champion Leon Edwards escaped gang life and forged a path in mixed martial arts, culminating in winning the sport's biggest prize.

When Leon Edwards was nine years old, he moved with his mum and younger brother from a one-bedroom shack in Kingston, Jamaica, to start a new life in Birmingham, England. Four years later, his mum got a phone call at 2am. Leon could her crying. His dad, a gang leader, had been murdered.

Over the next few years - the "darkest" of his life - Leon was himself drawn into a world of gang violence. This is the story of how, against the odds, he found a way out by forging a path in mixed martial arts - and went on to win the sport's biggest prize.

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14 minutes

Podcast