Leon Edwards believes Colby Covington will retire or go to lightweight after UFC 296

Leon Edwards believes UFC 296 will be the final time Colby Covington fights at welterweight.

Edwards is set to defend his welterweight title in the main event of UFC 296 against Covington in a highly-anticipated matchup. It’s a pivotal fight for both of their careers, especially for Covington as there is a lot of talk that this will be his final chance to become the undisputed welterweight champion, as he is 0-2 in undisputed title fights, and at age 35 time is running out for his career.

With that, Leon Edwards believes once he beats Colby Covington at UFC 296, ‘Chaos’ will either retire from MMA or will drop down to lightweight.

“He’s already turned down all the other young guys coming up. He’s turned down everyone the UFC offered him and sat out for two years. I can’t see him winning the belt and fighting all the young up-and-comers when someone like that gets stuff handed to them so easily all the time, that they feel like they can do that. After I beat him, I truly believe he will retire or move down, probably. He called out Islam, let him go fight Islam at lightweight,” Edwards said at UFC 296 media day.

Although Leon Edwards thinks Colby Covington would go down to lightweight, ‘Chaos’ has been vocal about fighting at his natural weight class. With that, it’s uncertain if he would be interested in going down to 155lbs, but there would be big fights against Islam Makhachev and Dustin Poirier which would intrigue some people.

“We eating good, baby. Let me know who’s going to be eating like this seven days out from a fight, no one,” Covington said on UFC embedded as he ate a steak dinner. “I don’t cut weight though, I’m a real fighter. I fight at my natural weight class because I know I’m the best fighter in the world, I’m not a weight bully like Islam Makhachev who has to cut all that weight to have an advantage over midgets and beat those guys up. That’s why I’m the number one pound-for-pound fighter on Earth because I fight at my natural weight class.”

However, all that would be for nothing if Colby Covington pulls off the upset and beat Leon Edwards at UFC 296 to become the welterweight champion. Should Covington win the belt, he would remain a welterweight given he is the champ, but Edwards is confident that won’t happen.