Leon Edwards has gone well over a year without a fight, and despite his desire to still compete on the UFC’s January 20th show, it is not happening.
Edwards (18-3) was supposed to face Khamzat Chimaev last month in Las Vegas, only for “Rocky” to test positive for COVID-19 and pull out of the fight. This month, it’s Chimaev who can’t make it due to his own coronavirus battle, so the UFC has opted to reschedule this matchup and bump up Michael Chiesa vs. Neil Magny to main event status.
According to Edwards, he actually wanted to face either Chiesa or Magny — both higher ranked than Chimaev but with much less hype surrounding them both — and then fight Chimaev afterward, but the UFC shot that down.