Leon Edwards has rubbished claims he has been offered step-aside money to allow Conor McGregor to fight Kamaru Usman.
Edwards is due to challenge the UFC welterweight world champion in July but no official announcement has been made. And McGregor, who has not fought since breaking his leg in his trilogy bout defeat by Dustin Poirier last summer, has targeted his own shot at Usman.
Former UFC star turned analyst Chael Sonnen claimed Edwards had been asked to skip his shot at the 170lb belt and allow McGregor to step in. But Edwards responded by tweeting: "Chael, what the f*** you on about?"
"I am being told that Leon has been offered his show and his win [money], whatever was negotiated for Leon to fight Kamaru is being offered to him," Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. "'We will mail you a cheque to step aside. We have the right to push you aside, we don’t want any hard feelings and we acknowledge that you deserve this. So, we are going to send you what you agreed on and you get to stay home.' With the belief being that Conor’s going to step in.
"I don't believe this rumour by the way, I'm just sharing with you anytime you don't have something locked up... Leon [vs Kamaru] is not done. There are some real moving parts there, quite frankly I don't know if we are going to see Kamaru Usman fight in two years from now."
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Edward has waited seven years for his chance to exact revenge on Usman having lost to the Nigerian in 2015. He is unbeaten in his subsequent 10 fights while Usman has gone on to establish himself as the pound-for-pound No.1.
McGregor, meanwhile, has bulked up to 190lb during his nine-month spell on the sidelines and is likely to return to the cage at welterweight following back-to-back defeats by Poirier at 155lb. The Irishman's previous fights at the higher weight saw him swap wins with Nate Diaz before he knocked out Donald Cerrone inside 40 seconds.
