Former top three UFC Welterweight Leon Edwards has called to face up and coming prospect Khamzat Chimaev following his removal from the UFC rankings for inactivity.
“I’m still in the rankings. Fuck all the inactivity, the only reason I havent fought is because all these so called top guys turned me down.”
Edwards was removed from the rankings after spending over a year without fighting, last facing Rafael Dos Anjos in July of 2019. Since then the UFC claims to have offered him a slew of different fights including bouts against Stephen Wonderboy Thompson, Colby Covington, and Khamzat Chimaev.
While fights were offered to Edwards he had been vocal that he either wanted a number one contender fight against Gilbert Burns or a title shot against the champion Kamaru Usman.
Thankfully, Chimaev responded to Edward’s callout sharing his willingness to face Chimaev.
I’m always ready to fight. Let’s go. Rock'n'roll baby
— Khamzat Chimaev (@KChimaev) October 22, 2020
“I’m always ready to fight. Let’s go. Rock’n’roll baby”
Chimaev has been looking for a fight since his victory over Gerald Meerschaert in September, the UFC had been looking to book him in a main event bout against someone in the top ten rankings of the Welterweight division. Many of these fighters turned down the fight seeing no upside to defeating an unranked prospect, however, Neal Magny shared that he was interested in the fight regardless of Chimaev’s ranking.
According to the UFC a main event for Chimaev to compete in would come before the end of the year likely in December back in Las Vegas at the UFC Apex.
Chimaev entered the UFC earlier this year debuting in a shut out victory over Middleweight John Phillips before returning to his weight class of Welterweight to take out Cage Warriors prospect Rhys McKee. Since then Chimaev returned to Middleweight to face veteran fighter Gerald Meerschaert who he knocked out with the first punch he threw of the fight.