Leon Edwards is not planning to be on the next UFC London card.
UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards is looking to take some time off to heal up from various injuries following his UFC 286 win over Kamaru Usman. Immediately following his win in London, England in front of his hometown crowd, Dana White announced that his next opponent was already set. According to White, Edwards will be defending his title next against Colby Covington.
This news did not exactly sit well with Edwards. He was looking forward to a bout with Jorge Masvidal instead and was not necessarily interested in fighting Covington. Now Masvidal is retired from MMA and it seems as though Covington will truly be next. The next part of the equation is to find out where they will be fighting. It seemed as though Edwards would be headlining another UFC card in London but now plans have changed.
Leon Edwards rules out his next title fight being in London
“For me, in last year. I fought times, I think, so I think for me I’d like to fight towards the end of the year, Abu Dhabi would be great. And I think that would be the perfect time and you know too I think we’ve got a massive British population in the Emirates, that part of the world,” he said to Sky Sports. “I feel like there’ll be a lot of fans coming out to see me as well so I thought that would be ideal… won’t be July because July is a Fight Night in London.”
Edwards has not lost a fight since 2015 in his first meeting with Usman. He is the only UFC champion from London at this point, however, as a champion, he should be featured on pay-per-view cards. If the July London event is not a pay-per-view it would make sense for him to wait for another opportunity. He likes the end of the year when the UFC usually holds an event in Abu Dhabi. This could open up an opportunity for Tom Aspinall to return to action as a headliner in London.
