Leon Edwards Calls For A Welterweight Title Shot: ‘Who Else F—king Deserves It?’

Getting angry isn’t really Leon Edwards’ style, but you can tell it’s starting to bother him that he’s still being overlooked for the next title shot at 170 pounds after his 9th win in a row.

Leon Edwards has been dubbed ‘the unluckiest fighter in UFC history,’ and we’re starting to think there may be some truth to that.

No one has been jerked around by the Coronavirus pandemic worse than him. His UK headline fight with Tyron Woodley in March 2020 was the first UFC event cancelled due to the pandemic. Three dates to fight Khamzat Chimaev were cancelled. His March 2021 fight against Belal Muhammad ended in a No Contest due to a freak eye poke incident.

Now his big win over Nate Diaz is being overshadowed after Nate caught Leon with one good combo in the final minute of the fight (watch the highlights here).

Even with the win over Nate at UFC 263 putting him on a nine fight win streak (minus the NC), UFC president Dana White is still insisting Colby Covington is next for a welterweight title shot. But Leon just keeps on truckin’ and he was pretty zen during the post-fight press conference.

“It was a decent performance, could have let my hands go a little more,” Edwards said. “The last round was … hahaha, I got complacent and paid the price, so…. I’m not going down, though. I had the will to win and I wasn’t going to let Nate take that away from me.”

Nate’s strategy involved a ton of trash talk and more physical mockery than usual in an attempt to draw Edwards into a brawl. It’s not exactly something you have to deal with against most fighters, but Edwards was prepared given Nate’s rep.

“Nate’s Nate, that’s what I like about him, he is who he is, he won’t change for nobody, especially talking shit,” Leon said. “Even though I was getting him with good shots, he was like ‘What you doin? You’re doing nothing.’ I’m like ‘Bro, I’m beating you up here!’ But it is what it is, a good fight, I enjoyed it. It’s been a long two years and I was happy to come back and compete with a guy like Nate.”

“When you’re hitting someone hard and they’re like ‘Come on man, what are you doing?’ I’m like ‘Bro, I’m smoking you here.’ Like I said, I respect him, especially after that fight knowing how much he can take and keep coming forward and keep talking shit.”

Dana White still refuses to consider Edwards as the number one contender at welterweight, something that confuses Leon to no end.

“I think I should be next for the title shot, that’s nine in a row, ten in a row,” he said. “There’s no one else doing what I’m doing, offering to fight everybody. Khamzat, Diaz, Belal. These guys aren’t in the top ten and I’m the only one saying yes, everyone else is bitching and sitting out and complaining. I’m the one that’s showing up and fighting and beating these top guys. So I feel like I deserve the next shot for sure.”

“All these guys making excuses, they know I’m the real deal, they know I’m the man for the title shot. They’re all bitching and making excuses, saying ‘He doesn’t deserve it.’ Then who f—king does? Colby don’t deserve it. Woodley got injured, so he deserves a title shot? I didn’t bitch, I didn’t moan, I took my loss on the chin and worked my way back up to a nine fight winning streak. Who else f—king deserves it?”

Unless the UFC is willing to change their stance on a title shot, it sounds like Edwards will be taking some time off after an endless year of back to back training camps.

“Later this year, probably,” he said regarding when he’d like to fight next. “I’d like to take my son away. As I said I’ve been in camp for two years now, back to back camps, lots of disappointment, lots of pull outs, lots of ups and downs. I’ll have the summer off, chill with my family, then later on this year.”