Leon Edwards (photo via UFC / YouTube)

By FCF Staff

Leon Edwards is set to fight Belal Muhammad this Saturday at UFC Vegas 21, but that hasn’t stopped him from accusing Colby Covington of ducking him.

Edwards was booked to fight rising welterweight Khamzat Chimaev three different times, but due to Edwards and then Chimaev contracting COVID-19, the fight fell through. Most recently, after Chimaev had to withdraw from a March 13th fight with Edwards, Dana White said a fight between Edwards and Covington made sense.

The latter, however, shot down the idea of the proposed fight, despite the fact Edwards is ranked #3.

Ahead of the contender’s bout with Muhammad, Edwards had this to say about Covington (quote via MMA Fighting).

“I kind of expected it,” Edwards said. “This man’s been running since forever. Every time my name gets mentioned, he runs and makes excuses. I expect nothing more from a coward. I expect this is the way he would approach it.

“The UFC wanted the fight. They went to him, came to me and said ‘would you fight Colby?’ I said yes. They went to him and he just says no. So I suspect that’s what he’s going to do. You cannot force a man to fight. It would have been great to have him in there, to put him in there to smash his head in but now here we are with Belal Muhammad.”

As UFC Vegas 21 approaches, Edwards (18-3) is riding an eight-fight winning streak. Covington (16-2) is coming off a TKO win over former champ Tyron Woodley in September, after being stopped by champion Kamaru Usman in December, 2019.