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Saturday, July 27, Manchester will witness the homecoming of its champion, Leon ‘Rocky’ Edwards when he defends his belt towards rival Belal Muhammad in an epic grudge match. This would be the Brit’s third title protection and plenty of may marvel what’s subsequent for the champion. Nicely, because it seems, Edwards is planning to maneuver up in weight to middleweight and tackle the competitors, simply not Israel Adesanya!
Sure, Leon is certainly eyeing a transfer to MW in an effort to rack up a second title however the welterweight king has made it clear that he doesn’t need to cross paths along with his buddy and former champion, Adesanya. Talking to Nik Hobbs of SkySports, he mentioned,
“I don’t know. I don’t care. Whoever is the champ on the time… Not Izzy, I don’t need to struggle Izzy. Not as a result of I’m afraid of him, simply that we’ve constructed a relationship the place it might be bizarre to struggle him. I really feel like I’d need to construct myself up in my mind to compete towards him, however everyone else, then yeah.”
Leon Edwards plans to maneuver as much as middleweight finally however says he’ll NOT struggle Israel Adesanya:
“I don’t need to struggle Izzy. Not as a result of I’m afraid of him… we’ve constructed a relationship the place it might be bizarre to struggle him.”
🎥 @SkySports #UFC304 #UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/FBMXNgjr8r
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) July 24, 2024
In a one-on-one unique previous to his title protection, the champ was requested about his ideas on double champ standing. Edwards revealed his plans to leap the size and compete within the middleweight class in possibly 2025 or 2026, late into his profession. Whereas the WW champion is assured in his skills, he doesn’t ever need to face ‘The Final Stylebender.
In truth, the 32-year-old confirmed that he merely doesn’t need to break the connection with Izzy and in keeping with him, combating the Kiwi is “bizarre.”
Nicely, this doesn’t imply that he’ll depart the WW division altogether. In the meantime, his coach not too long ago dropped his ideas about Islam Makhachev shifting as much as welterweight to seize the belt and grow to be the subsequent double champ.
Leon Edwards’ coach shoots down Makhachev’s WW hopes
Jon ‘Bones’ Jones was the final double champ within the promotion when he defeated Cyril Gane final 12 months to snag his HW belt, successful the belt in LHW and now in HW. Following the footsteps of the good, light-weight & welterweight champs – Islam Makhachev and Leon Edwards are poised for the climb.
Whereas the Brit has revealed his need to maneuver as much as 185 lbs, his coach, Dave Lovell believes that the welterweight division could be a tough nut to crack for the light-weight champion.
Talking to Submission Radio, Lovell in contrast his pupil to the Dagestani wrestler, primarily saying that Pound 4 Pound king received’t have the identical impact in WW, merely on account of his dimension. In keeping with him, Makhachev isn’t that large for the division and the Russian has by no means fought a sharpshooter like Edwards.
What do you assume? How will a possible Islam Makhachev vs Leon Edwards bout finish?
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