"He's going to expose him" - Ex-UFC champ makes bold prediction for potential super fight between Islam Makhachev and Leon Edwards
Former UFC two-division champion Henry Cejudo believes Islam Makhachev will dominate Leon Edwards in a potential super fight.
While 'Rocky' struggled with wrestlers early in his career, he has substantially improved his ground game in recent years. In his most recent win at UFC 296, Edwards was largely able to shut out Colby Covington's wrestling.
Despite the tremendous strides the Brit has made in overhauling his MMA skill set, Cejudo believes Islam Makhachev's grappling game will be too much for the 32-year-old to handle.
In a recent segment of this YouTube channel 'Triple C' said:
"Makhachev is a different wrestler... Islam is going to expose [Edwards] because he does fight everybody the same... What I thought Colby was going to do, [Islam] can do it better."
Both Edwards (21-3) and Makhachev (25-1) are on a dream run in the UFC. 'Rocky' is on a 13-fight unbeaten streak, and the Russian holds an equally impressive 13-fight win streak in the UFC.
Earlier this year, in the lead-up to UFC 286, Edwards had stated his interest in a future fight against the lightweight champion. And given that Makhachev is itching for a crack at the 170 lbs title, fight fans might very well get to see the alluring matchup come to fruition.
When Islam Makhachev sparred with Leon Edwards
It looks like Henry Cejudo's prediction about a potential fight between Leon Edwards and Islam Makhachev might not be too far from the truth. According to Makhachev, he once outclassed 'Rocky' in sparring.
During a media interaction in 2021, the lightweight kingpin revealed that he dominated the Englishman on the ground during his first training session at the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA):
"As soon as the fight started, I just took him [Leon Edwards] down straight away and was controlling him on the ground... I wanted to do well in my first sparring."
However, the 32-year-old added that Edwards had vastly improved his ground game since then and was now a completely different fighter. Makhachev said:
"He wanted to work on his wrestling and that speaks a lot of his mentality. He was aware of his weakness and went to another continent to improve as a fighter." [h/t @sealevelcain1 on YouTube]
Catch Islam Makhachev's comments about Leon Edwards below: