Leon Edwards: Tyron Woodley Is Running Away From Me

UFC welterweight contender Leon Edwards believes Tyron Woodley is doing everything possible to avoid fighting him next.

Edwards and Woodley were scheduled to meet in the UFC London headliner last month until the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic forced the event to be postponed. Since then, Woodley has heavily campaigned for a fight with Colby Covington and a rematch with Kamaru Usman. Most recently, he has also spoken of the possibility of moving up in the future and facing middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.

Edwards already called Woodley out for the latter and explained in a recent interview why he feels the former champion is avoiding him.

“He made every excuse in the book [the first time], and not once has he called my name since the fight was postponed,” Edwards told the SCMP. “He’s been calling out everyone else apart from me. He doesn’t want to fight me.

“He’s getting up there in age. I think he knows that, if I beat him, where does he go? He’d be on a back-to-back losing streak and I reckon he knows I’ve got all the tools to beat him. That’s why he’s running from it.”

It’s not that Woodley is a dream opponent for Edwards. However, the Birmingham native currently on an eight-fight win streak believes one more win would land him a title shot.

And he believes a win over Woodley or Colby Covington would earn him just that.

“I would love to shut him up,” Edwards said of Covington. “I’ve never liked the guy. I feel it’s a great match-up. He’s like Usman but less powerful. He’s a pace fighter. He has the cardio, he wants to keep the pace up and break you that way. I think if you don’t let him push you back, he’s quite easy to beat. Technically, he’s just a standard fighter.

“I’m looking for a title shot. If I have to do one more before the title shot, then Colby or Woodley would be perfect.”

Who do you want to see Edwards face next?