UFC – Leon Edwards: Tyron Woodley Was Forced Into Fighting Me

When Leon Edwards called out Tyron Woodley for a welterweight showdown at UFC London last October, the former UFC welterweight champion said he had no interest in fighting him outside of America. Fast forward three months and the pair have just been confirmed to headline the March 21st card at the O2 Arena, in London.

However, according to Edwards, Woodley’s had no choice in accepting the fight. Speaking to MMA Junkie, ‘Rocky’ said that the UFC forced ‘The Chosen One’ to take the fight.

 “Tyron was trying to make excuses of why he shouldn’t come overseas and why he didn’t want to come to London,” Edwards said. “The UFC had to force him into it. They gave him no choice but to take the fight. He was forced into it. He knows it’s a dangerous fight for him, and after I beat him, where does he go? He knows the risk.

“I went to Vegas and I had a meeting with Sean Shelby and Dana White and they were saying, ‘You’ve got no other options.’ He would fight me or they were going to move him out of the rankings. He had no choice. He had to take the fight. There’s no other way for him to go. He can’t wait out for a title shot because that’s not going to happen. It’s the only fight that makes sense for the division.”

Although the fight was only announced this past weekend, Woodley eventually agreed to the fight on December 25th, Christmas Day. The response came on Instagram, after Edwards had mocked his latest music video. According to Leon, Tyron is easy to wind up.

“It’s easy to wind him up. It’s easy to get into his head. I’ve got no problem playing that all the way through fight camp. It’s fun. He’s taking it seriously. His music is s***, so I don’t know why he’s getting mad. I don’t understand.”

Currently on an eight fight winning streak, Edwards know that his upcoming fight with Woodley is the biggest fight of his career. And a win would put him on the verge of a title shot against the current UFC welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman.

“After this fight I’ll be ranked number one and on a nine-fight win streak. That’s second most to the champion right now. There’s no bigger fight. I would have loved the title fight or [Jorge] Masvidal, but this is the next best thing. Fighting Tyron Woodley, a former world champion, some people consider him the best welterweight of all time.

“It’s good to be able to go out there and prove my case that I’m leaps above these guys. I look forward to going out there and putting on the performance of my life. I’ll show I’m better than these guys and it’s going to be good.”

Do you think Leon Edwards can extend his winning streak to nine against Tyron Woodley, in the UFC main event?


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