Leon Edwards has never been the greatest showman in the UFC. For most of his tenure with the promotion, ‘Rocky’ has allowed his work inside the octagon to do his talking for him.
However, after the recent merger between the UFC and WWE, the reigning welterweight champion showed interest in entertainment sports.
In an interview with Sam Harris on the BBC’s Newsbeat, the 170 lbs titleholder expressed an openness to testing himself in a WWE ring. He further revealed that he attended a WWE event the previous year in Cardiff, taking his son with him. According to Leon Edwards, he sees similarities between the UFC and WWE.
“Get me on the top rope, I’ll give it a go for sure.”
Given the UFC’s recent merger with WWE under Endeavor, a potential crossover event involving one of its champions is more than possible.
“I actually went to the event last year in Cardiff, Clash at the Castle. I took my son, it’s quite similar and the fans are really similar.”
During Leon Edwards’ time at WWE’s Clash at the Castle event in Cardiff, ‘Rocky’ took the opportunity to snap some pictures with high-profile WWE figures. He took pictures alongside former WWE superstar and current CCO Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque as well as reigning WWE Universal champion Roman Reigns.
Other figures he was sighted with include WWE legend the Undertaker. The picture with ‘The Tribal Chief’ was notable as ‘Rocky’ seemed to match him in size, with some fans even joking that Edwards made him look small.
Who is Leon Edwards’ next opponent?
At UFC 286, Leon Edwards silenced all of his doubters by defeating former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman for a second time. The win was the Englishman’s first-ever title defense. Prior to the matchup, controversial 170’er Colby Covington revealed himself as the main event’s backup fighter.
For Colby Covington’s efforts, UFC president Dana White claimed that ‘Chaos’ would be the reigning titleholder’s next challenger. However, Edwards was adamant that he had a say in who he would face next and felt that Covington’s inactivity disqualified him from the title fight.
Regardless, White doubled down on Covington’s status as the division’s number-one contender. Edwards, however, was adamant that there was no clear title challenger due to Covington being on a one-fight win streak. All while he had to mount a 10-fight win streak to earn his first-ever title fight.