Leon Edwards Not Impressed by ‘Overhyped’ Khamzat Chimaev

It takes more than a few fights in the Octagon to impress Leon Edwards.

It's been a while since Ultimate Fighting Championship fans saw “Rocky” competing in the Octagon. A plethora of reasons has kept the 29-year-old fighter away from competition for what is almost an 18-month hiatus, including a global pandemic. However, he should dust off the gloves in a few weeks when he will meet rising star Khamzat Chimaev (9-0) on an upcoming UFC Fight Night event that will go down on Dec. 19. That night, the 29-year-old Englander will put his eight-bout winning streak on the line, including victories over names like Donald Cerrone, Vicente Luque and Gunnar Nelson.

In a recent interview with ESPN, the British fighter revealed that he believes he will get a shot at the 170-pound championship once he gets past Chimaev.

“That's been mentioned, yeah,” he said about receiving a title shot. “If when I get there and beat him, I believe I'll get my title shot next. Who you're going to give it to? Masvidal again? Colby again? It has to be me, right?”

In the same interview, he also confessed his skepticism regarding the rapid ascent of “Borz.”

“I believe he's overhyped,” Edwards (18-3) added. “It's hard to judge him. As I said, the competition he faced is pretty low. I was once 9-0 in my career. I once had an eight-second knockout in the UFC. I’ve done everything he’s done. It’s hard to judge him. The UFC is just trying to hype him, so we will see.”

Back in October, the UFC pulled Edwards from the rankings due to inactivity. One day later, Edwards was reinstated as the No. 3 ranked welterweight. While talking to ESPN, Edwards confirmed that he was negotiating with the UFC at the time of the “weird” move.

“We were in negotiations,” he said. “They took me out of the rankings, and they put me back in. It was a weird thing.”

The last time he stepped into the Octagon, Edwards upended former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos via unanimous decision at UFC on ESPN 4. “Rocky” was scheduled to clash with former 170-pound titleholder Tyron Woodley on March 21 at UFC London before the event was canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak.