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UFC president Dana White is in London preparing for his promotion's first UK event since the COVID-19 pandemic canceled UFC Fight Night: Woodley vs. Edwards over two years ago. And while plenty of UK fighters are featured on Saturday's UFC Fight Night: Aspinall vs. Volkov card, one name that's missing is Leon Edwards.
That's because Dana White has bigger plans for Edwards that involve a title fight against Kamaru Usman. During a fan Q&A session held by BT Sport, Dana White confirmed that Usman's next defense would be against Edwards, possibly around July.
"He absolutely deserves the next title shot and yes, I'm wishing for nothing but good luck for Edwards this year. He's had a rough run. Usman, we're waiting for his hand to get cleared and he's got the fight."
Dana White went so far as to declare Edwards' shot at the title one of the two big fights he'd like to put together in 2022.
"Let's get Leon [Edwards] his fight, that'd be great to get that done. But the other one is it'd be good to see Jon Jones back this year. He says he wants to fight heavyweight. I'd like to get a Jon Jones fight at heavyweight this year if possible."
Watch the full interview / Q&A with Dana White below:
Edwards is on an impressive 9-0-1 streak in the UFC, but as White mentioned has been plagued by bad luck. His main event fight against Tyron Woodley was the first UFC card to be canceled due to the pandemic in March 2020. And then a huge fight against Khamzat Chimaev was delayed multiple times while Chimaev battled COVID-19.
Finally, after nearly two years, Edwards stepped back in the cage against Belal Muhammad, only for an eyepoke in the second round to render the bout a 'No Contest.'
Jon Jones is very interested in Dana White's heavyweight fight offer
Jon Jones has been keeping a low profile since a video of a domestic battery arrest on the Las Vegas strip was released. But he did take to Twitter to confirm that he was very interested in a fight against Stipe Miocic.
Jones vacated his UFC light heavyweight title in August of 2020 and has been preparing for a run at heavyweight ever since.
While the aforementioned domestic battery incident resulted in him being banned from his former Jackson Wink gym in Albuquerque, Jones continues to employ coaches from the gym at his home.
He's also been regularly training at Eric Albarracin's Fight Ready gym in Arizona alongside Henry Cejudo, Deiveson Figueiredo, and 'The Korean Zombie.'
