Leon Edwards won’t take anything less than a championship fight for his next UFC appearance.
Edwards (18-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC), a highly-ranked welterweight contender who has not lost in his past 10 fights, has been on the outside looking in when it comes to UFC title fights in 2021. Champion Kamaru Usman has already defended twice this year and is already scheduled to rematch Colby Covington at UFC 268 in November.
As Edwards sits idle, there’s a growing push to see a long-awaited grudge match with Jorge Masvidal take place. Their well-documented history stems from a backstage incident following both of their wins at a UFC event in London in 2019, where Masvidal attacked Edwards in the middle of a post-fight interview.
With Masvidal (35-15 MMA, 12-8 UFC) coming off a pair of title-fight losses to Usman and apparently keen to take whatever fight will give him the fastest path to a third crack at UFC gold, a fight with Edwards would be logical. MMA journalist Ariel Helwani reported on Tuesday that’s the fight the promotional brass would like to make, but one party is already showing disinterest.
That party is Edwards, who took to social media Wednesday to declare Masvidal is not a priority and 100 percent of his energy is placed on challenging the winner of Usman vs. Covington (via Twitter):
My next fight will be for the world title I don’t want to hear nothing about a guy coming off 2 fight skid and Got ko his last fight
— Leon 'Rocky' Edwards (@Leon_edwardsmma) September 15, 2021
My next fight will be for the world title I don’t want to hear nothing about a guy coming off 2 fight skid and Got ko his last fight
Edwards, No. 4 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie welterweight rankings, is coming off a unanimous decision win over Nate Diaz at UFC 263 in June. “Rocky” hasn’t lost since facing Usman in December 2015.
No. 9-ranked Masvidal, meanwhile, suffered his first UFC stoppage loss with a second-round knockout defeat to Usman at UFC 261 in April.
Loading...
