Leon Edwards wanted to remain on the January 20 fight card.

Originally, Edwards was set to headline the card against Khamzat Chimaev but the Swede was still recovering from COVID-19 so the fight was off. After the news was reported, Edwards sent out a tweet letting everyone know he still will fight on the card. However, when the dust settled, Edwards was off the card and Neil Magny will face Michael Chiesa in the main event.

According to Edwards, he offered to fight both Magny and Chiesa but the UFC said no.

“I offered to fight Neil or Chiesa in the main event Jan 20th and chimaev straight after but the UFC decided against it,” Edwards wrote.

According to UFC president, Dana White, the promotion wanted to keep Edwards-Chimaev intact.

“He won’t (be headlining the card). What we are doing is we are going to push that fight back. I don’t why, I just saw Ali came out today and said he had COVID,” White said to The Schmo about Leon Edwards. “I don’t know why he wasn’t telling people that but for some reason, he didn’t want people to know he had COVID. The doctor told him when he went back to the gym, I guess he was having some problems with his lungs, Khamzat was. They told him to take some more time off and not start training until early January. We are going to push that fight back and we are going to do Magny vs. Chiesa as the main event.”

Leon Edwards is currently on an eight-fight winning streak but has not fought since July of last year when he defeated Rafael dos Anjos. During his run, he also has beaten the likes of Vicente Luque, Donald Cerrone, and Gunnar Nelson. He was supposed to face Tyron Woodley in March but due to the pandemic, the fight was canceled.

Do you wish the UFC kept Leon Edwards on the card?