Leon Edwards was ready to give Jorge Masvidal a title shot but in his eyes, he blew it.
UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards is not too excited about his next possible matchup. He is fresh off of his first title defense over Kamaru Usman at UFC 287 in London, England in front of his hometown crowd. Immediately following the event UFC president Dana White announced that contender Colby Covington would be next for Edwards. The champ had someone else in mind, however.
Leon Edwards was ready to give Jorge Masvidal a title shot if he was able to get past Gilbert Burns at UFC 287
Edwards has been keeping an eye on Masvidal since becoming champion. Masvidal has been calling for a title shot and it seemed as if Edwards was ready to give him one if he could have defeated Gilbert Burns at UFC 287. Unfortunately for Masvidal, he lost that fight via unanimous decision and ultimately retired from MMA. Edwards is now reflecting on this turn of events in a conversation with MMA on SiriusXM.
“I feel like that was a fight to make, it was time to make it as well,” he said. “I’m the champion, I was gonna give him a shot at even though he didn’t deserve is just for the bad blood it was just for I don’t like him. It would have been a great fighter for the UK fans and for the world. But like I said he fumbled the bag once again. Went out there and didn’t look good at all. Gilbert got a victory and now here we are he is retiring so that fight will probably never happen now.”
It seems as though now Edwards will move forward with his proposed bout against Colby Covington. That fight was rumored to be happening this summer as the UFC returns to London in July however Edwards has a new plan now. He would like to take the summer off to heal up from various injuries and fight again in October in Abu Dhabi whether Covington wants to wait or not.