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The welterweight contender hasn’t fought since July 2019.
UFC welterweight contender Leon Edwards has been out of action for all of 2020, and it’s that inactivity that will see him removed from the rankings until he does return.
Edwards (18-3) confirmed to BJPenn.com’s Cole Shelton that he’s gone from #3 in his division to off the rankings altogether.
Leon Edwards confirms to me over text he has been removed from the UFC rankings due to inactivity. #UFC
— Cole Shelton (@ColeShelton91) October 22, 2020
“Rocky” is on an eight-fight winning streak, beating the likes of Donald Cerrone, Gunnar Nelson, and most recently Rafael dos Anjos. That dos Anjos bout occurred in July 2019, but it’s not as if attempts to book Edwards weren’t made this year. He was supposed to face Tyron Woodley at UFC London in March before the COVID-19 pandemic produced global lockdowns and tightened restrictions. Edwards claimed the UFC tried to get him to the US to salvage the fight on extremely short notice, but to no avail.
Since then, Edwards has not had anything close to a confirmed matchup and has alternated between calling out opponents like Jorge Masvidal and shutting down the idea of facing Stephen Thompson or Khamzat Chimaev.
If inactivity is the real reason for his removal and not a negotiating ploy in terms of his contract, then surely that should’ve also applied to Conor McGregor when he didn’t fight from 2016 to 2018, or Nina Ansaroff right now given she’s been inactive due to pregnancy. Dominick Cruz remained in the rankings even though he went over two years between his fight vs. Demetrious Johnson and his comeback vs. Takeya Mizugaki.
Belal Muhammad now moves to #15 in the rankings, incidentally.