Leon Edwards ‘cannot wait for revenge’ against Jorge Masvidal, after the American sucker punched him backstage in London three years ago.
The newly-crowned welterweight champion is fresh from his stunning KO win over Kamaru Usman and accepts the logical next move is a trilogy between them.
But further down the line, ‘Rocky’ has his eye on a match-up with Masvidal given the bad blood between them.
Leon Edwards knocked Kamaru Usman out with a head kick in the last round of UFC 278
Jorge Masvidal is one man ‘Rocky’ is desperate to face in the future to exact revenge
Masvidal (right) punched Edwards in bizarre turn of events at the O2 Arena
Dana White has already confirmed that the UFC are trying to arrange the Usman trilogy to be in the UK, probably at the start of 2023.
But further down the road, Edwards has no doubts he will get his hands on ‘Gamebred’.
He told The Jim Rome Show: ‘Yeah, 100 percent. That’s on my list. But at the moment, Jorge, he’s on like a two-three fight losing streak.
‘He needs to go out there, get some wins and make the fight make sense. That’s a fight I think would be massive for the UFC. To get my revenge on him, I cannot wait.’
Usman was separated from consciousness but is likely to have a rematch soon
Masvidal beat Darren Till at the O2 Arena in 2019 and in the aftermath, was filmed cutting an interview short backstage before approaching Edwards.
He punched the Brit and drew blood before security could intervene and there has been animosity between the pair ever since.
Edwards has had time to reflect on his win at UFC 278, which came after a one shot head kick KO in the final minute when he was losing on the scorecards.
‘[The kick was] kind of like a hot knife through butter, just perfect (laughs),’ he went on. There was no pain, there was just a perfect impact.
Usman was beating Edwards until he caught an incredible shot to end the fight
‘I see the way he folded over and I went to go for some ground and pound but he was already out. It was a fantastic moment.
‘I think Usman is deserving of the trilogy. I’d love to have it back in the U.K. In Wembley would be good.
‘The O2 would be good in London. But yeah, I’d love to give him the rematch. Run it back again, let’s settle the score.’