Conor McGregor won't fight for the welterweight world title until 2023 if Leon Edwards has his way.
Edwards is pencilled in to fight Usman during International fight week in July. The fight, which is set to take place at UFC 276, is not official as Usman is awaiting medical clearance after recently undergoing successful hand surgery.
McGregor wants to move up to 170lb and face Usman in his return to the octagon later this year. The former two-weight champion has trashed Usman's style and sees no danger in the pound-for-pound No.1 despite his dominant run in the UFC.
Edwards is hoping to upset the odds by avenging his 2015 loss to Usman and becoming the first man to defeat him in the UFC. And he admits Usman would deserve an immediate rematch - which would likely take place late in 2022..
"All the parties have agreed, so now it's just all about getting the contract delivered to the table," Edwards told MMA Junkie. "I'm ready, Usman's ready, the UFC's ready. Now it's just about waiting for the contract to come through and signing it, then going from there.
"It's going to be a great event, I'm excited to go out there to compete and bring the belt back to the UK then raise it for the UK fans and also the Jamaican fans as well. It's going to be an amazing week for me, my team and my countries.
Usman has expressed interest in boxing Canelo Alvarez after his UFC title defence against Edwards. 'The Nigerian Nightmare' is confident that, despite having no boxing fights under his belt, he can become the first man to knockout Alvarez.
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Edwards isn't bothered by Usman calling out the boxing star and said once he dethrones the UFC champion in July he can crossover to the boxing ring to do whatever he wants.
"I couldn't give a s*** what he's doing," Edwards continued. I'm focused on one thing and that's becoming a world champion. He can do what he wants, I'm going there taking the belt than from there he can do what he wants. Go and box Canelo after I beat him? That's up to him.
"That's a payday job, he's fell in love with his hands. Obviously he's been having success in the octagon with his boxing since moving to Trevor, but technically I think boxing is boxing and MMA is MMA. He makes a lot of fundamental mistakes and I don't think he's ready for that level of pure boxing."
