Leon Edwards on whether Jorge Masvidal-Kamaru Usman confrontation was staged

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Modified 03 Feb 2020, 10:32 IST

Leon Edwards is set to have the biggest challenge of his career as he takes on former UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley in the UFC London headliner. He stated that a clause in his new contract states that should he beat Woodley, he will be guaranteed title shot.

The next title fight at 170, however, appears to be Kamaru Usman vs Jorge Masvidal. The latter indicated that negotiations had begun and their verbal altercation in the Superbowl radio row only fueled the fire on a possible match-up.

All roads seem to indicate that it's next and Leon Edwards, the man who many consider as the next challenger, was anything but amused about the affair. He spoke to ESPN (H/T MMA Fighting) about it, saying:

“Was it planned? Why are the cameras following him all the way to Usman?It’s basically planned because they’re walking for like, a minute with a camera behind him. That’s this game we’re in right now, right? It’s the social media era and the WWE era. That’s the way the game is leading at the moment. It is what it is. I’m just focused on my career and doing what I need to do and being what I need to be to achieve what I need to achieve.”

He admitted that he thinks it was planned:

“You can tell that’s planned. The camera is walking behind him for a long way before he got to Usman so he was like, ‘Ah, we’re going to go do this.’”

Edwards is right in a way. There's a high possibility that it was planned - or they made the most of it at the moment. Either way, it's the most exciting Welterweight title fight that can happen right now and if Masvidal is somehow able to beat Usman, his star power will rise even more.

Published 03 Feb 2020, 10:32 IST