Who’s Next for Leon Edwards? (UFC 296)

Leon Edwards remains the UFC welterweight champion after successfully defending his title against Colby Covington unanimously (49-46, 49-46, 49-46).

The fight went completely opposite to how most expected it to. Covington, known for having incredible pace and pressure was on the back foot for most of the fight, constantly with his back to the cage, being pushed back from Leon.

The challenger seemed insipid and confused by the constant feints and stance switches whilst Edwards picked apart the American throughout the first two rounds.

To the bemusement of the crowd, not one takedown was attempted by Covington until the third round, this attempt was easily stuffed by the champion.

Edwards himself wanted to prove how well-rounded he is by taking the All-American wrestler down, and he succeeded twice out of his three attempts.

The challenger was finally able to control the champion on the ground in the final round but after clearly being down four rounds, it was evident Edwards defended his title for the second time, unbeaten in 12 fights, matching the division record of Georges St-Pierre.

#2 Belal Muhammad weighed in as the backup fighter for the main event and despite being in title shot talks for nearly two years now, the champion believes Muhammad doesn’t deserve a rematch with him after their first bout ended in a no-contest due to an eye poke from the champion.

UFC President, Dana White, has not confirmed whether Muhammad will get the next title shot at Edwards either. After the undefeated Shavkat Rakhmonov dominated Stephen Thompson, it’s possible that he could’ve cemented himself at the top of the queue as Edwards’ next challenger.

An outside-of-the-box contender for Edwards is Islam Makhachev. The lightweight champion has been eyeing a move to the welterweight even saying “Leon has to be next.”

However, with Charles Oliveira and Justin Gaethje waiting in the wings in his own division this may be a fight seen further down the road, rather than immediately.