Six months faraway from Leon Edwards‘ unanimous choice victory over Kamaru Usman at UFC 286, we nonetheless haven’t any official announcement for when ‘Rocky’ will return to defend the welterweight world title.
Since March, we’ve identified that Leon Edwards‘ subsequent opponent would probably be No. 2 ranked contender Colby Covington. UFC President Dana White mentioned as a lot in the course of the UFC 286 post-fight press occasion after which proceeded to reiterate his intentions of reserving the combat after nearly everybody questioned the logic of giving Covington his third title alternative after going 2-2 in his final 4 fights.
Within the aftermath of the announcement, ‘Chaos’ has slammed Leon Edwards repeatedly, suggesting that the British-born titleholder was ducking the combat. ‘Rocky’ has performed little to refute these claims, however in response to the champ’s supervisor, Tim Simpson, the welterweight title tilt will go down earlier than the tip of the yr.
“It’ll be earlier than the tip of the yr,” mentioned Simpson, confirming that Edwards vs. Covington is the following UFC welterweight title combat throughout a dialog with Submission Radio. “I assume the 2 playing cards left are November and December they usually’re nonetheless finalizing these. Leon is sweet. He is able to go. From my understanding, Colby is able to go as effectively.”
Leon Edwards is presently driving an 11-fight win streak courting again to 2016, together with wins over Vicente Luque, Bryan Barberena, Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone, Gunnar Nelson, Rafael dos Anjos, Nate Diaz, and Kamaru Usman in back-to-back conferences.
For comparability, Colby Covington is 3-2 in his final 5 fights with all of his wins coming in opposition to fighters who’re now not on the UFC roster. Each of Covington’s losses got here in title fights in opposition to then-champion Kamaru Usman. Previous to that, ‘Chaos’ rattled off seven-straight wins en path to his first UFC title alternative.
Will the third time be the appeal for Covington this winter, or will ‘Chaos’ as soon as once more be relegated to the position of gatekeeper within the welterweight division?
Transcription courtesy of BloodyElbow.com
