Leon Edwards will not be headlining UFC 300.
For that, UFC President Dana White will remain eternally grateful. But even though “Rocky” will miss the April 13 pay-per-view (PPV) event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, the promotion did considering having the reigning welterweight champion atop the card.
Against three different opponents.
Or maybe it was all a bunch of bullish*t to make Edwards more marketable.
“If I’m gonna be honest, I don’t really buy the whole, ‘We offered him three fights,’” No. 2-ranked title contender, Belal Muhammad, told MMA Today (transcribed by MMA News). “I know they offered it to Islam and I know Islam turned it down. But I don’t buy that they offered it to Shavkat because Shavkat was hurt, and I don’t buy that they offered to Khamzat because he ain’t making weight.”
Matchmakers were struggling to find a main event worthy of the UFC 300 fight card and (allegedly) considered pairing Edwards against current lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, as well as surging up-and-comers Shavkat Rakhmonov and Khamzat Chimaev.
The headlining slot eventually went to Alex Pereira vs. Jamahal Hill.
“So, for me, I think it was more so to hype up Leon,” Muhammad continued. “Leon doesn’t go on social media, he doesn’t do interviews, he doesn’t hype himself up. So, it’s like, Dana White’s a promoter. He has to promote this guy and be like, ‘This guy’s a killer! He said yes to every single fight!’ But if they really wanted him at 300, they knew they could have called me and I would have said yes. It just tells me that they didn’t really want him on 300 or Leon’s a hard guy to deal with. For me, that whole thing was just to hype up Leon and make it seem like he’s a bigger attraction than he really is.”
Edwards is expected to defend his 170-pound title against Muhammad at some point later this year, because “it’s the only thing that makes sense.”