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If the UFC transport bus flipped over and killed every available welterweight except for Kamaru Usman and Leon Edwards, the promotion would probably still find a way to skip “Rocky” in the 170-pound title chase.
Heck, they won’t even let him fly standby for a fake welterweight belt.
Undaunted, the streaking Brit will continue to rack up as many wins as it takes to get him the winner of Usman vs. Colby Covington, even if it means fighting former champion, Tyron Woodley, at the Jan. 18 pay-per-view (PPV) event in Las Vegas.
“They said to me this week that they offered Tyron Woodley the fight for January, the same date as Conor (McGregor), the same card as Conor in January,” Edwards told Severe MMA. “They offered us that fight for the co-main, I said, ‘Yeah,’ and whatever. 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.”
Jan. 18 is when McGregor is expected to make his UFC comeback.
Edwards (18-3) is the winner of eight straight and has not tasted defeat since his unanimous decision loss to Usman, the current champion, back in late 2015. “Rocky” was last seen turning away former lightweight kingpin, Rafael dos Anjos, at UFC on ESPN 4 last July.
While it certainly sounds like a great fight, one that makes sense from a rankings standpoint, Woodley has already gone on record to express his disinterest in fighting Edwards and tends to be fickle about his welterweight opponents.
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.