Leon Edwards says Jorge Masvidal turned down fight with him

According to Leon Edwards and his brother, Bellator fight Fabian Edwards, Jorge Masvidal turned down the opportunity to fight him. The Edwards brothers have also recently made digs at the UFC for the current ranking and lack of hype surrounding Leon.

Leon Edwards (17-3) has made his desire to fight Jorge Masvidal no secret. In a recent interview with BJPenn.com, he says his winning streak is not reflected in his position in the UFC ranking system, presumably because he doesn’t engage in trash talking.

“It’s a mad game..It’s no more about fighting, it’s more about talkers, whoever talks the most gets the opportunities,” he said. “I feel like that’s where the sport is going, it’s more like WWE now. You talk trash and you don’t have to perform well. There’s people losing that talk trash and they’re still above me [in the rankings].”

His younger brother, Fabian Edwards is in agreement and has been vocal about his disdain for the UFC.

After it was revealed Jorge Masvidal will fight Ben Askren, Fabian Edwards said to Metro:

“When I saw [the Masvidal vs. Askren booking], I just thought they were taking the p***. [Edwards vs. Masvidal] is a fight that should have happened, after Masvidal’s sneaky attack, that’s a fight that should have happened.”

Both Fabian and Leon Edwards were involved in a backstage brawl against Masvidal and his team at a UFC event last March. Part of the incident was filmed before being broken up by security. Many anticipated these backstage antics would result in an official fight between Leon Edwards and Jorge Masvidal, but the potential matchup was overlooked by the UFC.

During Ariel Helwani’s MMA show on Monday, Leon Edwards claimed Jorge Masvidal turned down a fight with him.

“From what I have heard, they offered him the fight and he turned it down,” he said. “Clearly the man don’t want this smoke. So it is what it is. I was ready to go straight away in June. They offered him the fight and he turned it down. Now, here we are. I am looking for another top five [welterweight] and go from there.”

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 5/21/2019.