Leon Edwards confirms to me over text he has
been removed from the UFC rankings due to inactivity. #UFC— Cole Shelton (@ColeShelton91)
October 22, 2020
Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on
your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the
ESPN app. The
Ultimate Fighting Championship appears to be playing hardball
with top welterweight contender Leon
Edwards. On Wednesday, TSN
first updated their rankings – rankings that reflect the official
UFC placements – to reflect that Edwards (18-3) had been removed
from the welterweight division. Formerly ranked at the #3 spot
thanks to an eight-fight win streak, “Rocky” last competed in July
2019. Edwards was previously slated to meet Tyron
Woodley in March, but travel restrictions due to COVID-19
scuttled the entire event. After MMA reporter Cole Shelton confirmed
through Edwards that the Brit was removed, the promotion updated
its own rankings
accordingly.
The UFC still
has multiple fighters that last competed longer ago than Edwards on
the rankings, including light heavyweight Thiago
Santos, featherweight Ryan Hall and
women’s strawweight Nina
Ansaroff. In order to be removed from the
official Sherdog rankings under Sherdog’s inactivity provision,
Edwards would need to be away from the sport with no fight booked
until January 2021.
ESPN
has since released a series of failed negotiations between the UFC
and Edwards. The UFC pushed for Edwards to rematch Kamaru
Usman for the title in July on short notice, but that fell
through. Edwards was then looked at as a replacement option in the
Colby
Covington-Woodley fight in September, but that bout went ahead
as scheduled. The UFC subsequently attempted to book Edwards
against Geoff Neal
and Khamzat
Chimaev on the Dec. 19 card, but Edwards did not sign for
either.
According to ESPN, once Edwards declined to take Chimaev fight –
Chimaev is currently unranked with a single win in the UFC at
welterweight against a debuting Rhys McKee,
and placed as the
#148 welterweight on the FightMatrix algorithm compared to its
#6
Edwards – the UFC pulled his place on the rankings. Edwards has
not been released from the promotion.
The 170-pound contender last set foot inside the Octagon in July
2019, where he outworked
former lightweight champ Rafael dos
Anjos over five rounds to take a
clear-cut decision. Dating back to 2015, Edwards has lost
exactly one fight – to current champ Usman – while winning 10. On
his active win streak, Edwards has racked up a pair third-round
finishes, including punching out Peter
Sobotta at 4:59 of the Round 3 to record the latest finish in
any UFC non-title welterweight match.
I’m still in the rankings. Fuck all the
inactivity, the only reason I havent fought is because all these so
called top guys turned me down.Khamzat want to fight then?
— Leon ‘Rocky’ Edwards (@Leon_edwardsmma)
October 22, 2020
Since this news broke, Edwards has taken to Twitter
to claim that he is still a ranked fighter, while also remarking
that top-ranked opponents have turned down fights with him. He then
called out Chimaev to fight, and the latter responded shortly
thereafter.
“I’m still in the rankings,” Edwards wrote. “F— all the
inactivity, the only reason I haven’t fought is because all these
so called top guys turned me down. Khamzat want to fight then?”
I’m always ready to fight. Let’s go.
Rock’n’roll baby— Khamzat Chimaev (@KChimaev)
October 22, 2020
Chimaev replied
minutes later, “I’m always ready to fight. Let’s go. Rock’n’roll
baby.”
