Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight contender Leon Edwards is on the brink of securing a fight against former champion, Tyron Woodley.
The British mixed martial artist, who currently places fourth in the official rankings, is on an emphatic eight-fight winning streak in the UFC.
Since losing to Kamaru Usman in 2015, Edwards racked up string of victories and never looked back as he built his way towards the title shot.
His most recent win was against Rafael Dos Anjos, eking out a unanimous decision win at UFC Texas last July.
He also holds notable wins against UFC veteran Donald Cerrone and also-streaking Vicente Luque.
Edwards rose to fame when he tussled with Jorge Masvidal in a backstage confrontation at UFC London last March, which gave birth to the infamous ‘three piece and a soda’ rivalry.
The bitter rivals continued to trade barbs but the UFC refused to capitalize on their feud.
Masvidal was booked to fight Nate Diaz at UFC 244 next week while Edwards is still waiting for his next official bout.
Back Up
In a recent interview with Severe MMA, Edwards revealed that he offered to be the replacement for the Diaz vs Masvidal ‘BMF’ clash and the Kamaru Usman vs Colby Covington title bout.
“When the fight got made, when Diaz vs. Masvidal [was made], I offered the UFC that I would stay ready just in case anything like this happened,” he said, referring to the recent debacle faced by Diaz, (transcript from MMA Fighting).
However, the UFC turned down the offer.
“[UFC] said that, ‘No, it should be fine, you don’t need to.’”
“I kind of put all my focus into December, so I asked them again in case someone from Colby or Usman fell out, but they said no again this week.”
“So, I’m aiming towards early next year probably. Woodley would be a good fight.”
Co-Main Event Fight
But Edwards might still get his shot to a high profile fight.
The British welterweight claimed he has been offered to fight Woodley in the co-main event of the UFC’s first pay-per-view event next year.
“Let’s just see how these next two fights pan out – Masvidal and Diaz, Usman and Colby – let’s see how they play out and then I want the number one spot, if not the title shot.”
“If they give me Woodley, the talk is that it would be in America.”
According to Edwards, this welterweight clash will be on the same card as the McGregor return fight.
“They said to me this week that they offered Tyron Woodley the fight for January…the same date as Conor…the same card as Conor in January.”
“They offered us that fight for the co-main, I said, ‘Yeah,’ and whatever, so [we’ll wait and see],” Edwards ended.
In a potential title-eliminator, who do you think will win between Leon Edwards and Tyron Woodley?
(Featured Image Source: Instagram/ Leon Edwards and Tyron Woodley)