Leon Edwards Will Not Fight Replacement Opponent On January 20

Leon Edwards will not get a replacement opponent after Khamzat Chimaev withdrew from their January 20 main event match-up.

The intriguing fight between the #3 ranked welterweight and LowKickMMA’s prospect of the year Chimaev has been pushed back for the second time.

Edwards was originally set to fight Chimaev at UFC Vegas 17 on December 19 but that fight was scrapped due to ‘Rocky’ suffering a particularly debilitating case of COVID-19.

The undefeated Swedish fighter later had a bad COVID-19 case of his own and was ultimately deemed medically unfit to fight on January 20. Edwards expressed his desire to remain on the card by calling out Jorge Masvidal. The Englishman also received fight offers from Kevin Holland and Vicente Luque but unfortunately none of these bouts will take place – at least no time soon anyway.

In an interview with The Schmo, White revealed Edwards will no longer compete on ‘Fight Island’ as the UFC plan to reschedule his match-up with Chimaev, he said.

“The doctor told him when he went back to the gym, I guess he was having problems with his lungs, whatever that was, so they told him to take some more time off and not start training until early January. We’re going to push that fight back.” (Transcribed by MMA Junkie)

White also revealed the fight between Michael Chiesa and Neil Magny is now set to main event on January 20 – see below for the full fight card.

Michael Chiesa vs. Neil Magny
Viviane Araujo vs. Roxanne Modafferi
Tyson Nam vs. Matt Schnell |
Francisco Figueredo vs. Jerome Rivera
Dean Barry vs. Mike Jackson
Pedro Munhoz vs. Jimmie Rivera
Matt Brown vs. Carlos Condit
Zarrukh Adashev vs. Jeffrey Molina
Lerone Murphy vs. Douglas Silva de Andrade
Vinicius Moreira vs. Ike Villanueva
Manon Fiorot vs. Victoria Leonardo

Do you think Leon Edwards vs. Khamzat Chimaev will ever happen?