Former UFC middleweight champion and current fight broadcaster Michael Bisping wants Leon Edwards to fight an old rival for his next UFC bout; Jorge Masvidal.
Edwards is flying high after his unanimous decision win over Nate Diaz at UFC 263 and dominated the fight with the exception of the last minute of the final round. He is currently on a nine-fight winning streak with his lone blemish on his record being a no-contest against Belal Muhammad earlier this year.
Edwards and Masvidal had an infamous backstage altercation while they were both fighting at UFC Fight Night 147 in the UK. The phrase “three-piece with a soda” was born after Masvidal attacked Edwards backstage when the two welterweights came face-to-face in the back of the arena.
Although it’s been a little over two years since the backstage brawl, Bisping thinks the time is right for Edwards and Masvidal to settle their differences in the UFC octagon.
“Jorge Masvidal, man. That’s who it needs to be,” Bisping said when asked who Edwards should fight next. “Some people are saying that Masvidal needs to fight Nate Diaz again. I disagree. And Masvidal has to take that fight as well. If you go out there and you crack another man in the face who is in your weight class and you both work for a company that matches their employees against one another and puts them in an Octagon to fight, the pieces of the puzzle are there. “
“That absolutely, unequivocally, has to be the next fight for both of those men.”
Following the win over Diaz, Edwards voice his intention to have his next UFC fight be a title shot against welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, no matter how long he’ll have to wait. But if he wants to take a fight against a top contender and stay active before the Usman fight comes, it might be a plausible option to fight Masvidal later this year.
Masvidal is coming off two-straight losses to Usman in back-to-back title shots, with the most recent coming by way of knockout at UFC 261. Before that, he had been one of the hottest fighters in all of combat sports after big wins over Darren Till, Ben Askren, and Diaz in 2019.
Do you think Leon Edwards should fight Jorge Masvidal instead of waiting for a title shot?