In December 2023, Leon Edwards was on an eleven-fight unbeaten streak including two dominant title defenses. That streak also included one of the best knockouts of all time against Kamaru Usman to obtain the welterweight belt.
Less than two years later he’s on a two-fight losing streak, both of which he was dominated in.
In his two most recent fights, he was taken down 14 times. You’d have to combine his last seven fights to get to that number of takedowns.
A decision Edwards made in his recent fight against Sean Brady UFC fans were mindblown by was when he shot a takedown in the third round. Brady is a great wrestler with the second lowest bottom position time and percentage amongst active welterweights.
With that being said, you’d assume he at least put up a fight on the feet, but that was far from what took place. He was outstruck 221-23, a show of complete dominance from Brady.
The question that I find interesting is, what’s next for Edwards?
In a crowded division, he’s not going to be getting a title shot for some time.
Shavkat Rakhmonov, now Sean Brady, Jack Della Maddalena fights for the title in a few weeks, Joaquin Buckley has won six straight and put himself into the title contender conversion and even with a three-fight losing streak, Kamaru Usman is still one of the best in the division.
So if he isn’t fighting for the title, how should Edwards meet in the octagon?
There’s one matchup that makes a lot of sense in my eyes. Leon Edwards vs Joaquin Buckley in a five-round co-main event.
As previously mentioned, Buckley has entered the title contender conversation after a nice win over Colby Covington in December.
However, he’s still a fight away from getting a title shot, a win over Edwards could get him there.
For Edwards, this could be a good fight to keep him in the highest tier of welterweights.
A win, regardless of how, over a sixth-ranked fighter would put him right back into contention for another title shot no matter who has the belt at that time.
For much of the same reasons, Ian Machado Garry makes a lot of sense as well. Despite coming off a loss to Rakhmonov, Garry still posts a 15-1 record and is still looking for a signature win over a top welterweight en route to the belt.
Edwards is still only 33 years old and hopefully has a lot left in the tank, this is far from the end of the road.
A move up to middleweight seems incredibly unlikely even with past welterweights taking that route losing a few fights.
It’ll be interesting to see what Dana White and the UFC has in mind for the former champ.
