Leon Edwards reveals his plans to bring UFC to Birmingham during his latest visit to hometown club Aston Villa

Leon Edwards, the UFC’s welterweight champion, is ranked 4th in the pound-for-pound rankings of the UFC. After a come-from-behind victory over long-reigning champion Kamaru Usman at UFC 278, Edwards has successfully defended the title twice.

Leon’s first title defense was against Usman himself at UFC 286, and his second title defense was against Colby ‘Chaos’ Covington at UFC 296, the final PPV of 2024. Covington and Usman were the best fighters in the division for a long time, and Edwards has now defeated them both rather convincingly.

Leon Edwards wants to bring UFC to Birmingham

Leon Edwards was born in Jamaica and moved to Birmingham when he was just 9 years old. After going through an antisocial lifestyle for 8 years, Edwards’ mom made him join an MMA gym when he was 17. Since then, Edwards let go of his old ways and made Team Renegade MMA & BJJ his home gym.

After a successful defense of his title, Edwards was at the Premier League match between Aston Villa and Burnley. Villa won the match 3-2 and kept their second position in the Premier League. Edwards even got a chance to visit the Villa players in the locker room and was even interviewed at halftime.

“I will defend my belt in April at #UFC300 in Vegas again, then hopefully in the summertime get a fight back home in Birmingham at Villa Park, ” Edwards said of his plans to defend his title at the highly coveted UFC 300. Moreover, he also announced his plans to defend his title at Villa Park after UFC 300.

“I’m in talks with the UFC, so hopefully we can get it done,” Edwards further added providing hope that a title defense in Villa Park is possible. The UFC has not done events in open stadiums and Edwards has the chance to be the first to headline such an event.

Potential opponents for Leon Edwards at UFC 300

Even before he defended his title against Colby Covington at UFC 296, Leon Edwards had stated his interest in fighting the winner of the UFC 297 between Sean Strickland vs. Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 300. However, Belal Muhammad, who was the backup fighter at UFC 296, criticized Edwards citing his claim as the next challenger.

Edwards and Muhammad have fought inside the octagon before but the fight ended in a No Contest after an inadvertent eye poke from Edwards. However, Edwards does not see Muhammad as a potential opponent next. Moreover, Edwards’ coach, Dave Lovell, said that they find Gilbert Burns as a potential opponent next.

Islam Makhachev, the pound-for-pound king of the UFC, was not impressed by the performance of either Covington or Edwards. Moreover, he even vowed to finish either of them if they fought him. Makhachev had earlier talked about his aspirations to become a welterweight champion before his fight with Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 294.

Nate Diaz is another fighter flaunting his interest in fighting at UFC 300. Diaz had earlier fought Edwards at UFC 263 where Edwards won but Diaz almost finished Edwards in the final round. Diaz tweeted his interest in fighting at UFC 300 with the video of him rocking Edwards.

Who do you think will Leon Edwards fight at UFC 300? Leave your prediction below!