Fabian Edwards is the brother of UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards. Recently, Fabian voiced his concerns over Colby Covington’s inactivity ahead of his brother’s next title defense. Covington walked into a world title shot after a year out of action, and this “doesn’t sit right” with Fabian.
The UFC welterweight champion would want to compete against a more active challenger like Belal Muhammad, with whom he has unresolved issues from their last match. However, UFC President Dana White has repeatedly insisted that Covington deserves the shot, despite his lack of activity. Covington’s last win was against Jorge Masvidal back in March of 2022.
Leon’s no.1 contender match will likely take place later this year. However, he has expressed a desire to compete in Abu Dhabi in October instead of London in July.
In an exclusive interview before his bout with Gegard Mousasi on May 12 in Paris, Fabian Edwards said: “It’s what they [the UFC] do, isn’t it? Mad stuff like that. As mad as it is, that is what they do so like my brother said he’s champion and regardless of what the challenge is he’ll be ready for it.”
“Even if the guy doesn’t deserve it Leon will be ready because he’s No.1. You’ve got Dana there saying ‘if Usman wasn’t there Colby would have been reigning over the division so they obviously have a lot of respect on him, which I suppose a lot of people do as well.”
“Regardless of the challenge, when you’re the champ you take the challengers and you get rid of them. You have to respect everyone but it doesn’t mean that he deserves it. In terms of deserving it, if he went out and done two more fights and got on a little streak then he would.”
“He’d be welcome to it, but the whole point that everyone is missing out on is that he sat out for like a year. ”
“that’s what doesn’t sit right with us.”
The UFC had lined Covington up as a backup competitor for Leon’s trilogy bout with Kamaru Usman in London last month. He made championship weight for the bout in a surprise appearance but was not needed on the card.