Edwards Wants Title Eliminator Bout Next After Losing Woodley Fight
Leon Edwards was preparing to face former welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, at UFC London on March, 21st. However, the event was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Since the fight was cancelled, Woodley has turned his attention to the UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, and Colby Covington. As well as UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya. ‘The Chosen One’ however, looks set to face Gilbert Burns in the main event of the UFC’s May 23rd card.
Edwards is content to move on to a new opponent but told MMA Junkie that he won’t accept anything less than a title eliminator bout.
“For me, it has to be someone above me. I’ve worked too hard to get into this position to be fighting Top ten. I’ve the second-most wins in the division compared to the champion, so I truly believe that I deserve a world title shot already. So the only way I’ll fight again is either [a] title shot or the number one contender spot. There’s no point of me going backwards and fighting someone in the Top ten, because it’ll defeat the point of me getting to this position.
“[The] only reason I wanted to fight Woodley was because he was a former world champion and the Usman fight was taken away from me because of Masvidal, so anyone above me is the only option right now.”
‘Rocky’ is a regular at American Kickboxing Academy but spends most of his time training at Renegade BJJ & MMA in Birmingham, England. The gym has produced some of the sport’s most promising talents, such as Tom Breeze and Jai Herbert, who Edwards trains with regularly.
Riding an eight fight win streak, Edwards’ last defeat occurred over four years ago at the hands of the current 170lbs champion, Kamaru Usman.
While it looks like Edwards won’t be getting to fight Woodley next, he’s still going to enjoy calling out the former champion on social media.
“He’s calling out the middleweight champion, he’s calling out lightweights, he’s calling out everyone, apart from me. I messaged him yesterday telling him you sound like a girl trying to get backstage with the popular guys, but these are fun for me. I’m having fun with it and it’s banter.”
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