UFC 269: Leon Edwards will face Jorge Masvidal in welterweight grudge match later this year

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By Tom Ward

Published Oct 13, 2021

Edwards will finally face No1 enemy Masvidal in an epic grudge match in Las Vegas later this year

Leon Edwards will finally get the chance to get his hands on former UFC title challenger Jorge Masvidal later this year.

American MMA fighter Masvidal had initially been resistant to the idea of fighting the former BAMMA welterweight champion Edwards at first but the pair will finally get it on at UFC 269 in Las Vegas on December 11.

Still smarting from his loss to Kamaru Usman, 'Gamebred' is back on the comeback trail as he looks to work his way back into title contention.

"You're welcome #supernecessary," Masvidal wrote on Twitter.

"Millionaire [accompanied by a pair of eyes emoji]," Edwards added, seemingly in reference to earning a career-high payday.

Edwards, 30, has spent the past few weeks hurling insults at Masvidal openly accusing the American of essentially cheating the public by avoiding a fight with him.

Edwards told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour: "Apart from a title shot, there’s no one else that I want to fight other than Jorge, everyone knows this.

“I’m not scared of him. I’ve asked three years in a row to fight this guy and he turned down every single time.

"I'm not waiting till next year to fight him, I'm waiting for a title shot.

"I want to fight for the title, which I earned years ago, so let's see."

In his first win in almost two years, Edwards dominated the iron-chinned Nate Diaz over five rounds to secure an easy decision - barring a minor blip at the end of the fight.

Edwards added: “He talks all this s--- on social media, and plays this tough guy on social media, but we all know he’s not going to take it.

"He’s coming off back-to-back losses, he’s trying to get another win to get his name back where he was.

"But I truly believe he won’t take it. He chose to fight Ben Askren over me. That proves enough he’s not willing to fight me.”

Leon Edwards will finally get his chance to shut Masvidal up in Las Vegas later this year

Paradigm Sports VP Tim Simpson, who manages Edwards, is excited at the prospect of two of the best welterweights in the world

"Despite earning the next title shot, [Edwards] has always been willing to fight Jorge first, provided the terms were correct," Simpson told ESPN.

"We are very happy with the deal, and excited to compete in December, and then for a world title thereafter."