After an impressive start to his UFC career, Dana White appears to be completely sold on Khamzat Chimaev and has declared him to be a “special” talent, but his next opponent Leon Edwards has warned that he’s got his sights set on derailing his hype train.
“The UFC loves him. Dana [White] loves him,” Edwards told mmafighting.com. “They all think he can’t be beat. When I go out there and take him out, I can’t see what they can say next to give me my title shot. I’d be on a nine-fight win streak. I believe this was the fight to make and now here we are.”
Edwards has every reason to feel confident. After all, his current eight-fight winning streak includes defeating the likes of Rafael dos Anjos, Donald Cerrone and Gunnar Nelson.
Despite that he’s never received the praise and adulation that Chimaev has experienced after just three fights in the octagon to date, and indeed has even seemed to have a strained relationship with White at times.
Like lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov in the past, Edwards feels that he’s been unfairly held back from getting his shot at the title and is determined to take his frustration out on his next opponent.
“That’s exactly how I feel, right,” Edwards admitted. “Dana, I’m going to smash your boy. I cannot wait. It’s going to be a very good night come December.”
