Leon Edwards continues to build toward a potential fight with Ian Machado Garry.<\/p>\n
Edwards (22-5 MMA, 14-4 UFC) mapped out a three-fight plan that starts with Carlos Prates (22-7 MMA, 5-1 UFC) on Saturday at UFC 322 (pay-per-view, ESPNews\/Disney+\/FX, ESPN+) from Madison Square Garden in New York. If he can rebound against Prates, Edwards wants Machado Garry (16-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC), who meets Belal Muhammad in the UFC Fight Night 265 co-headliner a week later in Qatar.<\/p>\n
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“Ian’s biggest achievement right now in the sport is losing to Shavkat, and that’s facts,” Edwards said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.”<\/a> “That’s his greatest achievement, that he can brag that he didn’t get finished and that he lost to Shavkat. If it comes, it comes. iIf it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”<\/p>\n Edwards is set to compete in his first three-round fight since 2019. It’s also the first time he’ll fight a striker since 2021.<\/p>\n “I’m so excited for this fight,” Edwards said. “It’s been a long time since (Nate) Diaz, since my last three-round fight. I’m excited to go out there and just mix it up and just get to work. It’s two different fighting styles, as well. If you’re fighting a wrestler, it’s different from how you would fight a striker.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n “So I get to show more skills, and it’s going to be a good one. I trained for three rounds. I feel like when you train for five rounds, your body gets used to the pace of the five rounds. A three-round fight, you want to try and sprint it. That’s my mentality going into it.”<\/p>\n