Leon Edwards shares his own opinion on Conor McGregor’s future in MMA, especially regarding him remaining at Welterweight.
The No. 4 ranked Welterweight contender gave praise to the Irishman for his performance against Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone at UFC 246. Regardless, he doesn’t see McGregor being able to win the Welterweight belt any time soon.
Back in January 2020, “The Notorious” put “Cowboy” away in just 40-second in the main event of UFC 246. Since then, he has teased the possibility of fighting against the current champion in Kamaru Usman. Leon Edwards has only ever lost to Usman, back in 2015, and thinks that McGregor’s size would be the deciding factor in that matchup. In recent interview with Metro, Edwards said:
“He’s a small man and size can make a huge difference if you’re a striker jumping up a division.
“I’ve spoken to Conor a few times. I believe he’ll move down to lightweight. I can’t see him fighting for a welterweight title. Fair play to him, because he looked great against Cerrone.”
Conor McGregor is the former UFC Featherweight and Lightweight champion. There are rumours that he could be next in line to fight the winner of the Lightweight title bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson. UFC president Dana White has actually recently come out and said that Khabib is next for Conor. Nurmagomedov is the current UFC Lightweight champion and his rivalry with McGregor is well known and documented, ever since their clash back in a 2019. Conor McGregor lost the bout via submission in the 4th-round, but believes he is able to beat the Dagestani champion. However, Khabib Nurmagomedov has expressed that he is not interested in a rematch against McGregor several times since their first meeting. He might not have much say on this matter, with his coach recently commenting on the situation and stating that “they are not in control” over the alleged rematch.
Leon Edwards has a different opinion on who The Notorious will face next:
“If he does stay at welterweight, it’ll be against someone like Nate Diaz. I can’t see him fighting against a top-three welterweight. ‘It’ll be someone like Khabib (Nurmagomedov) or Nate (Diaz), I think.”
McGregor and Nate Diaz have already fought twice in 2 of the most memorable performances inside the Octagon. In their first bout, the Irishman was forced to tap out due to a rear-naked choke. In their second meeting, he was able to redeem himself with a majority decision victory. If there was a perfect example of a trilogy that needs to happen, this would be it.
Leon Edwards is scheduled to share the Octagon with Tyron Woodley in the main event of UFC London later this month.
This article first appeared on CLOSEDGUARDMEDIA.com on 4th March, 2020.
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