With UFC president Dana White reiterating that Colby Covington is the welterweight No. 1 contender, he’d like to see Leon Edwards finally face his rival.
Edwards (18-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC), who’s unbeaten in his past 10 fights, is long overdue for a title shot, but it appears he’ll have to wait his turn. Considering that Edwards was hit with a string of bad luck, including the COVID-19 pandemic and contracting the virus himself, White thinks the Brit should remain active.
“It’s never a good idea to sit around and wait,” White told MMA Junkie on Tuesday. “Lots of bad things have happened to guys that have sat around and waited. This sport is just like life. There are no guarantees in life. You gotta get in there, you gotta fight your ass off, you gotta stay relevant, and you gotta make people chomping at the bit saying, ‘All right, Leon’s getting screwed now. This guy should be getting this title fight.’ You want the fans screaming for you to be the next guy to get that title shot. And, yeah, with the bad luck that that poor kid has had, he should stay as active as he possibly can.”
White suggests that Edwards should try and get Jorge Masvidal (35-15 MMA, 12-8 UFC) back for the infamous “three piece and a soda” that he struck him with backstage when they competed on the same UFC London card in 2019.
“That is a fun one,” White said. “I agree. If there’s another fight to make right now, you’re dead on. That’s probably the fight to make.”
Although Edwards has been open to facing Masvidal in the past, he’s no longer interested after “Gamebred” suffered a knockout loss to UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman in April. Masvidal seemed rather dismissive of Edwards too, claiming that he’s “not a fighter” and doesn’t take risks after he fended off a late surge from Nate Diaz in what was an otherwise dominant performance at UFC 263.
Dana White thinks Leon Edwards should stay active: Jorge Masvidal ‘probably the fight to make’