UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards of the United Kingdom answered when he will be ready for his next fight.
It was previously reported that Edwards will make his title defense against Colby Covington on July 22 at UFC 291 in London.
July is 100-percent too soon. I fought in March, just under a month ago, and I’m still dealing with injuries and stuff that I had to deal with before I even consider getting back into a training camp. If I’m fighting in July, that means I’m going back into training camp next week, and that’s just not possible. I will look toward the back end of the year. I would love to do Abu Dhabi in October. I think that would be a great time frame for me to compete, but there’s actually no clear No. 1 contender. There’s no one actually out there that’s actually earned it. There’s guys coming off two losses, one win. There’s guys that [have] one win, one loss. It’s a difficult time in the welterweight division. So now I’ve just got to look towards business. I will sit back, talk to the UFC, talk to my team and see what’s best.
Leon Edwards, quoted by MMA Fighting
Edwards last fought against Kamaru Usman at UFC 286 in March of this year. Leon won that fight by decision. He has 21 wins and three losses under his belt.