Leon Edwards spent years trying to secure a fight against Jorge Masvidal after “Gamebred” sucker-punched him backstage at the O2 Arena in March of 2019. Shockingly enough, now that the welterweight title is wrapped around Leon’s waist, it’s Masvidal who’s chasing him.
In a new interview with MMA Fighting, Masvidal made it clear that he wanted a fight against Edwards
“I definitely feel like I deserve it,” Jorge told Mike Heck. “I definitely seen just from the money side we deserve it, I seen from the fan side we deserve it. Who doesn’t want to see me fight Leon? They may say I don’t deserve it but they would still raise their hands and say ‘I want to watch that fight and I’ll pay my hard earned money to go see that fight. So I don’t agree with that.”
Masvidal likened it to how Dan Henderson got a shot at Michael Bisping when “The Count” won the middleweight title.
“There was a story there,” Masvidal said. “If that had a story, this has a f—ing movie between me and what’s-his-face, that English f—. So why not give the fans what they want? If I didn’t deserve it and fans didn’t want it, why is it that every time I talk to a reporter or anybody, they’re always talking about this. Why aren’t they talking about anything else? It’s always me against Leon in England.
“Leon, step up to the plate, bro. You begged and cried and did all this bulls— before when I was fighting for the title. Now you got the belt, lets go!”
“And I never dodged the f—,” he added “Because when I wasn’t fighting Leon I was fighting the guy that had the belt. And after that I fought the guy was number one, so … if Leon wants it I’m here, but if he’d rather be, I don’t know, drinking tea, eating fish and chips and s—, I dunno.”
It didn’t take long for Leon Edwards to respond.
refer to me as “Mr Edwards” or “Sir” and get on your knees and beg and I may consider it https://t.co/fr6o0OsygT
— Leon ‘Rocky’ Edwards (@Leon_edwardsmma) October 15, 2022
“Refer to me as ‘Mr Edwards’ or ‘Sir’ and get on your knees and beg and I may consider it,” Edwards wrote on Twitter.
The current plan is to see Leon Edwards rematch Kamaru Usman in the UK sometime around March. Immediately following Edwards’ last minute KO of Usman there was a lot of talk about a big stadium show, and Leon Edwards says the promotion is looking at Wembley.
There’s been no murmurings that the UFC is looking to do anything other than “Rocky” vs. “The Nigerian Nightmare,” which the promotion clearly sees as a big money fight. So barring an injury or something bizarre happening, it looks like Masvidal truly is at the back of the line.