The welterweight champion Leon ‘Rocky’ Edwards will defend his belt against his rival Belal Muhammad this weekend. Surprisingly, Edwards has revealed his intention to move up in weight to the middleweight division for his next challenge. However, he ruled out the potential fight against Israel Adesanya.
In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, the champion was questioned about his views on becoming a double champion. Edwards shared his intentions to compete in the middleweight division later in his career potentially. While confident in his skills as the welterweight champion, Rocky expressed no desire to compete against ‘The Last Stylebender.’
I don’t know…Not Izzy, I don’t want to fight Izzy. Not because I’m afraid of him, just that we’ve built a relationship where it would be weird to fight him. I feel like I’d have to build myself up in my brain to compete against him, but everybody else, then yeah.
Leon Edwards via Sky Sports
The 32-year-old also confirmed that he simply doesn’t want to ruin the relationship with ‘Izzy.’ According to Edwards, the Kiwi has always supported him. As such, fighting such a good friend is “weird.“ On many occasions, Adesanya showed his support for the Jamaica-born British. Only the brutal head-kick loss of Kamaru Usman was the situation when Izzy had mixed feelings about Edwards’ victory.
Leon Edwards plans to move up to middleweight eventually but says he will NOT fight Israel Adesanya:
“I don’t want to fight Izzy. Not because I’m afraid of him… we’ve built a relationship where it would be weird to fight him.”
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After a long verbal altercation week between both teams, Rocky is now all set to face his next challenge this weekend. This fight will be Edwards’ third title defense, leading many to speculate about his future plans. Meanwhile, the welterweight champion’s coach feels the same as the champion feels about fighting Izzy.
Dave Lovell doubles down on Leon Edwards’ thought of not fighting Israel Adesanya
Israel Adesanya is scheduled to vie for the championship by taking on Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 305 next month. Dave Lovell doubts that “The Last Stylebender” will continue to be in the spotlight for much longer. Due to Edwards’ friendship with Adesanya, a matchup between them is highly unlikely, and the ‘Team Renegade’ captain doesn’t anticipate this happening.
Israel Adesanya, Dave Lovell, and Leon Edwards together (via Instagram)In a recent interview with Submission Radio, Dave Lovell talked about many things including Leon Edwards’ potential middleweight move. He was also asked to give his opinion on who the middleweight champion will be when his fighter attempts to become a two-weight world champion. Lovell also doubled down on the idea of not fighting against Izzy on a future date.
I don’t think Israel [Adesanya] because in all fairness, I love him and Israel is my brother but I think he’s coming to the twilight of his career now. and if I was him, if he fights Dricus, maybe win the title, defend it once or even just win that title and retire because he’s earned enough, he’s got nothing more to prove.
Dave Lovell via Submission Radio
Lovell believes that the current holder, or the man he won the title from, could be Edwards’ middleweight opponent. However, it remains to be seen how this friendship tale unfolds between the welterweight champion and the former middleweight champion. Given Izzy’s determination to claim his title back at UFC 305, nobody knows what the future holds for them.
