Colby Covington says Dana White wanted him to fight Leon Edwards in London but the champ refused
Colby Covington recently revealed that Leon Edwards refused to defend his title against him in London this coming July.
While speaking to MMA Fighting, Covington shared his thoughts on Edwards declining the promotion's offer to headline another pay-per-view event in London. He metnioned that Dana White was planning on changing the event from a Fight Night to a pay-per-view with the welterweight title fight as the headliner.
He said:
"We [Dana White and I] talked about how he was gonna change it from a ESPN Fight Night to a pay-per-view because he wanted to do right by the fans of London. I mean, those people in the O2 Arena are so passionate, such good fun loving fans...I mean they make the environement just that much better, so he wanted to make good on that." [2:29 - 2:49]
'Chaos' also questioned 'Rocky' suggesting the upcoming pay-per-view in Abu Dhabi in October for his return to the octagon. He mentioned that fighters from that region will most likely headline the card and that he believes it wouldn't make sense to fight there, saying:
"Abu Dhabi doesn't make sense. There's other fighters that are gonna fill up that card that are from around that region of the world, so you know they have other great fighters over there, the Dagestanis, they're gonna occupy that card and it doesn't make sense for him [Leon Edwards] to fight there, so he doesn't get to call the shots." [3:28 - 3:44]
It remains to be seen when and where the UFC will target for Edwards vs. Covington.
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Leon Edwards' brother believes Kamaru Usman is a tougher challenge than Colby Covington
Leon Edwards' brother, No.2 ranked Bellator middleweight Fabian Edwards recently shared his thoughts on Colby Covington and noted that he believes Kamaru Usman is a tougher challenge.
While speaking to MMA Underground, Edwards detailed the differences in 'Chaos' style and 'The Nigerian Nightmare', and mentioned that he believes the former interim welterweight champion can get hurt more despite his cardio and wrestling:
"I think the shots that my brother [Leon] will be landing on him will cause more damage...I don't think he'll be able to wear it as well as Usman did." [9:14 - 9:21]