A Triple Champ Was Crowned At UFC 278. His Name? Tim Simpson.

Leon Edwards landed a stunning knockout via head-kick against Kamaru Usman at UFC 278. It was a victory 7-years in the making for the new Welterweight champion.

Joe Rogan declared it “the greatest head-kick knockout in the history of the sport – with the most consequences, the most at stake, the most doubt, the most people counting him out, including us,” per MMA Junkie.

Edwards’ knockout win over Usman, Holm’s knockout win over Rousey at UFC 193, and Julianna Pena’s second-round submission win at UFC 269 are why I love mixed martial arts.

Tim Simpson is another reason I love the sport: unbeknownst to many, he quietly collected his third UFC Championship a la Edwards’ win. You’d never know it, though.

Three days ago, Reddit user Effective Celery put it best when he said, “I’ve never heard of this guy before this post, which is probably how a good manager operates.” Another, whose username is Orange Cream Flower added, “great manager, never heard of him.”

Even Simpson’s Instagram bio is as low-key as it gets: it just says “fight game.”

But Simpson, Director of MMA Management at Paradigm Sports, is also the manager of Jiří Procházka, who became UFC Light Heavyweight champion at UFC 275, and Israel Adesanya, who retained his UFC Middleweight title at UFC 278.

But that doesn’t matter. Conor McGregor, another Paradigm client, famously said, “the double champ does what he wants.” Well, the MMA management world’s new “triple champ” does what he wants, too. Spotlight be damned.