Leon Edwards will return to the ring in March 2025 at UFC London. And according to UFC veteran Chael Sonnen, he already has a few options. The biggest fight in the welterweight division at the moment is between Shavkat Rakhmonov and Ian Garry. While the winner goes on to challenge Belal Muhamad for the title, Sonnen believes the loser fights the former champion, Edwards.
On the latest episode of the Good Guy/Bad Guy Show on YouTube, Sonnen predicted the future match-up and claimed makes a lot of sense,
“I think the loser of Ian Garry Rakhmonov draws in to Leon. That’s what I think…the rankings will support it, you’ve got two guys coming off a loss, two meaningful guys you could feature.”
Sonnen sees this as a good way to clear up all the title contenders in the division. Since both Rakhmonov and Garry have perfect records in the UFC with zero losses to their names, the loser of the fight will still be one of the most dangerous fighters in the division.
This would nicely line up the top 4 fighters in the division and open up multiple other very interesting fights with Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington also trying to claw their way back into the title picture.
Besides, while Edwards wasn’t the most exemplary champion, he did defeat and then defend the title against Usman, arguably the greatest welterweight in UFC history.
So even Daniel Cormier wants to see ‘Rocky‘ get another shot at the title.
DC backs Edwards
DC believes Edwards is being counted out way too early. The Brit looked visibly exhausted in his last fight against Belal. It was not the same fighter who fought Kamaru Usman, DC has claimed.
He believes this was because of the odd timings of the event.
“In Manchester, it was early man, it’s 5 a.m. by the time these guys are walking to the octagon. It’s not good, it’s hard. It doesn’t matter how long you try to prepare yourself for that.”
This is why he wants to see the former champion take on an elite opponent to prove that he still has what it takes to be a champion again. Besides, he’s not going to get direct rematches with the champion since he had made Belal wait for more than a year before offering him a title shot, despite the Palestinian-American fighter being the #1 contender in the division.
And when the day of reckoning came, Belal not only put on a clinic, he literally dropped Edwards on his head and dominated him through out the fight.
