"He would've been hurt badly" - Leon Edwards claims UFC 'hid' Jorge Masvidal away and flew him out early after the 'three-piece and a soda' incident in London
![Jorge Masvidal (left) and Leon Edwards (right) [Photo via @leonedwardsmma on Instagram]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2021/10/ebe04-16342007556522-1920.jpg?w=500)
Leon Edwards has shared new information regarding his infamous "three-piece and a soda" incident with Jorge Masvidal at the O2 Arena in 2019.
The British fighter revealed that the UFC had to "hide" Masvidal and immediately flew him out of England for his protection. In the latest episode of The MMA Hour, Edwards told host Ariel Helwani of the ensuing events following the encounter. According to Edwards:
"Afterward, they hid him away. They took him to a hotel. I don't know where they put him, but they hid him somewhere in London and flew him to the airlines in the morning. He would've been hurt badly, doing what he did. So they hid him away – I don't know where they took him and his team – and flew him out in the middle of the night. He knows that he has something coming to him and they had to get him out of the country."
The incident took place when Masvidal was being interviewed backstage following his KO win over Darren Till. At that point, Edwards entered the same area and interrupted Masvidal's conversation with Laura Sanko.
Jorge Masvidal and Leon Edwards exchange words and punches backstage during the ESPN+ post-show https://t.co/kYEkWxN8Io
'Gamebred' then walked towards Edwards and dished out a flurry of punches on the British fighter, leaving a cut on Edwards' face. Masvidal recalled the incident in a later interview with ESPN's Brett Okamoto and coined his combination "three-piece and a soda."
Watch Leon Edwards talk about his encounter with Jorge Masvidal on The MMA Hour below:
Leon Edwards aims to finish Jorge Masvidal at UFC 269
After years of staying out of each other's paths, Leon Edwards and Jorge Masvidal will finally settle their feud inside the octagon. ESPN recently reported that a matchup between the rival welterweights is scheduled for UFC 269 in December.
Three years after the incident, Edwards revealed there's still bad blood between himself and Masvidal. For that reason, 'Rocky' claimed that his main goal is to hurt Masvidal rather than just simply beating him.
"The finish comes first and the win comes after," Edwards told Helwani. "I'm going out there to put him away. I'm not going out there just to win the fight; I'm going out there to hurt him and to put him away. That is my aim."