Leon Edwards wants Conor McGregor.
This summer, Edwards defends his welterweight title against Belal Muhammad on July 27 at UFC 304 in Manchester, England. That takes place just one month after McGregor makes his long-awaited return to the cage against at UFC 303, and if both he and McGregor are victorious, “Rocky” believes the next logical step is a fight between the two of them.
“One hundred percent. Why not? Let’s give him the opportunity to become three-division world champion,” Edwards said recently on The MMA Hour. “Give me the opportunity to take out a guy like Conor McGregor. New York, that would be perfect. That is the fight. I feel like he’s got to take out Michael, I take out ‘No-one-remembers-his-name’ and we’ll go from there. We’ll go to New York, MSG, let’s go!
“That’s the fight. We’ve got business to take care of, but that’s the fight. That’s what needs to happen and it should happen.”
On top of being the biggest star in MMA history, McGregor is also the first simultaneous two-division UFC champion, holding both the featherweight and lightweight titles back in 2016. However, since then, McGregor’s had a tough road, going just 1-3 over the past eight years. Most recently, McGregor lost his trilogy fight against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 when he snapped his leg, a catastrophic injury that has kept him out of action for nearly three years. Now he returns in a 170-pound bout against career lightweight Michael Chandler.
Even Edwards admits this isn’t something he’s spoken with UFC about yet, but insists that if both he and McGregor win this summer, possibilities abound.
“I heard a little noise but nothing to get excited about,” Edwards said when asked about the possibility of the fight happening. “Like I said, we’ve both got fights on our hands that we need to get past first before getting that far in. I have to go out there and take of Belal, he goes out there and takes care of what he needs to take care of, and we’ll go from there.”
And despite his long layoff, terrible injury, and bad run of form lately, Edwards still believes in McGregor. Perhaps it’s just wishful thinking, but the UFC welterweight champion says he’s picking McGregor to look like vintage “Notorious” against Chandler.
“I think he beats him,” Edwards said. “If you watch them stylistically, I feel like Conor is a very sharpshooter, counterstriker, and Chandler plays off his aggression. He likes to entertain the crowd and scrap. He’s too small, as well. I feel like he’s going to walk onto the back hand. It’s going to be a good fight, but I’m favoring Conor for this fight.”
McGregor vs. Chandler headlines UFC 303, which takes place June 29 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
