UFC 269 suffered a big blow this afternoon. Hunter Campbell informed ESPN’s Brett Okamoto that Jorge Masvidal (35-15) has suffered an injury and as a result, he’s out of his highly anticipated matchup against Leon Edwards (19-3, 1 NC).
This fight had so much hype behind it after the history that these two men shared. Of course, everyone recalls the “Three Piece and a Soda” that Masvidal gave Edwards after a UFC event in London. These two men do not like each other and the fight is a couple of years in the making.
However, we now know that Masvidal is injured and the fight is off. Campbell didn’t give a timeline on Masvidal’s return and he also didn’t say whether the UFC will keep that fight together. There is a chance that Edwards stays on the card in the end.
Masvidal was called out by Colby Covington last weekend after Covington lost to Kamaru Usman at UFC 268. Covington and Masvidal used to be best friends who have now turned rivals. Covington said Masvidal should pull out of his fight with Edwards to fight him.
Yesterday, Masvidal tweeted out a cryptic message saying, ‘Silver Lining‘. Maybe that had to deal with the injury which could lead to his matchup with Covington. Either way, the fight at UFC 269 is off.
What’s next for the UFC?
I think this is the end of the fight for now. I personally don’t see the UFC rebooking this fight in the short-term and they will likely refocus their attention on booking Masvidal against Covington when both men are healthy.
So where does that leave Leon Edwards? My guess is that Edwards will still try to fight at UFC 269 unless the promotion just gives him a title shot. With that in mind, there are a few opponents that jump out as possibilities.
Edwards could fight Gilbert Burns (20-4) next. These two have gone back and forth quite a bit and Burns has said that he would fight Edwards on short notice. Another possiblity for the UFC could be Vicente Luque (21-7-1) who is looked at as the next guy in line behind Edwards currently.
A wild card in all this could be Khamzat Chimaev (10-0). The UFC tried to book Edwards against Chimaev a few times this year and it always fell through due to Covid. Now, Chimaev is healthy and he’s said that he wants to fight next month. Perhaps the UFC tries one more time.
This will definitely be a story to watch over the coming days.