Lightweight champion Islam Makhachev has called out welterweight champion Leon Edwards for a mega fight. As the talk about this fight is buzzing, former UFC fighter turned analyst Chael Sonnen thinks Edwards is ducking Colby Covington. Edwards caused a huge upset last year after beating Kamaru Usman at UFC 278 for the welterweight championship. Edwards was seemingly being dominated by Usman. However, he landed a flush kick to his head towards the end of the fifth round to win the bout via KO.
The two later went on to fight again at UFC 286 earlier this year and this time, Leon Edwards managed to win the bout via unanimous decision and retained his championship.
Since then, there has been a lot of speculation about Edwards’ next fight and it looks like there might be a major twist. And speaking of the same, Chael Sonnen has offered his take.
What did Chael Sonnen say about Leon Edwards and Islam Makhachev?
Following his successful title defense against Usman earlier this year, Edwards was billed to fight against Colby Covington. While the UFC welterweight champion didn’t seem to be interested in a fight against ‘Chaos’, Dana White was persistent and made it clear that the Englishman would have to defend his title against Covington next.
However, now Islam Makhachev has entered the picture. He recently took to Twitter and called out Leon Edwards for a fight in October. He said:
“UFC Abu Dhabi, October 21st Makhachev vs. Edwards. What do you think? @ufc @espnmma”
This is the most clever way of avoiding Colby yet. Bravo, truly. https://t.co/LKdJzS1Fuf
— Chael Sonnen (@ChaelSonnen) July 18, 2023
While this seems to be a matchup that fans would love to see, Chael Sonnen offered his take on it and suggested that it might be the best way for Edwards to avoid a fight against Covington. He said:
“This is the most clever way of avoiding Colby yet. Bravo, truly.”
It is worth noting that it’s currently unclear as to which weight division the two will fight in if the fight does get made by the UFC. Makhachev seems hungry for a fight since his title defense against Alexander Volkanovski earlier this year. Although he has called out Edwards, now a rematch with the featherweight kingpin would also be a viable option.
The situation between Islam Makhachev and Alexander Volkanovski
UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski moved up in weight earlier this year to fight Islam Makhachev for the lightweight championship.
While the bout was extremely close, Makhachev managed to retain his championship. Since then, there has been a lot of speculation surrounding a rematch between the two.
With Alexander Volkanovski successfully defending his featherweight belt against Yair Rodriguez earlier this month, a potential rematch against Islam Makhachev seemed certain.
However, Volk is currently recovering from surgery. But he is adamant about the rematch and also recently called out Makhachev. However, with Makhachev calling out Edwards’, it will be interesting to see who he fights next.
