UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards believes his bout with Islam Makhachev could be a right-wing contest, but that's not the case at this point.
Following his fifth-round submission win over Dustin Poirier in the main event, Makhachev called for a challenge for the welterweight championship to be contested between Edwards and Belal Muhammad in the main event of July's UFC 304 event. “Rocky” accepted the call and said he likes the idea of the challenge, but believes there are a number of hurdles that both fighters must clear first.
“I welcome it,” Edwards told Sky Sports. “We both feel we have work to do within our squad. [divisions]… He just fought his first lightweight, his first title defense against an actual lightweight, so I feel like he still needs to get a few more lightweight bouts in before he thinks about moving up a weight class.
“But if we were both like this [long] If you want to be a monarch, why not do it? Just do it in the future. We are both 30 years old and the same age, so we definitely have time to get it done.”
Edwards will be seeking to defend his title for the third time in a rematch against Muhammad after their first bout ended in a no contest due to an accidental eye bump. Edwards most recently won a lopsided decision over Colby Covington at UFC 296 in December.
If Edwards wins his next bout, he'll likely have unbeaten Shavkat Rahmonov waiting in the wings, while Makhachev has a No. 1 contender in Arman Tsarukyan for the lightweight belt, and Edwards would like to clear out the contenders before he or the lightweight champion is promoted.
“This is a big fight,” Edwards said, “I feel like I still have work to do in my weight class first, and then the super fights will come.”
