UFC will give a fight between Leon Edwards and Khamzat Chimaev another chance, booking the five-round fight for a March 13th “Fight Night” card. First reported by Simon Head and John Morgan of MMA Junkie, the fight joins a card after two previous iterations of the bout were cancelled.
The location for the main event fight is not known at the moment.
UFC attempted to book a bout between Edwards and Chimaev in December of 2020 and January, although COVID-19 interfered in both instances.
The fight was removed from a December 19th card after Edwards contracted COVID-19. The fight was then placed on a January 20th “Fight Night” lineup, although that plan was thrown out after Chimaev had his own bout with the virus.
The fight in March is a big step up in competition for Chimaev, who has had a quick yet explosive run in the UFC. Chimaev made his UFC debut in July, where he put on a dominant win over John Phillips. Just later in the month, Chimaev returned with a with against Rhys McKee.
Chimaev’s last fight was in September, where he stopped Gerald Meerschaert in the 17-seconds with a knockout.
The fight for Edwards will be his first in over a year-and-a-half. He enters the match on an eight-fight win streak. His last fight was in July of 2019, where he defeated Rafael dos Anjos via decision.
Prior to his cancelled fights against Chimaev, Edwards had a fight against Tyron Woodley cancelled in March of 2020 due to COVID-19 affecting UFC’s schedule.
The fight will join a card that has three other bouts reported for it so far. Here’s what is in the lineup.
Bout 4: Leon Edwards (18-3) vs. Khamzat Chimaev (9-0) (Welterweight)
Bout 3: Jonathan Martinez (13-3) vs. Davey Grant (10-4) (Bantamweight)
Bout 2: Jason Witt (18-6) vs. Matthew Semelsberger (7-2) (Welterweight)
Bout 1: Jinh Yu Frey (9-6) vs. Gloria de Paula (5-2) (Strawweight)
