Mixed martial artist Chael Sonnen attends the UFC 170 event at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on February 22, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Nate Diaz vs Leon Edwards was recently postponed after Diaz picking up an injury
Diaz and Edwards were supposed to fight in the co-main event of UFC 262. But an injury to the ‘West Coast Gangster’ meant that the fight had to be postponed.
The pair are set to fight one month later at UFC 263. Diaz hasn’t fought since November 2019, when he fought Jorge Masvidal for the BMF title.
Edwards, on the other hand, is no different. He hadn’t fought since July 2019, before being scheduled to fight Khamzat Chimaev in December 2020. The fight against Chimaev was rescheduled a plethora of times, but never came to fruition.
And then he finally stepped into the octagon on the 13th of March, 2021. He took on Belal Muhammad. In only the second round, the fight was deemed a no-contest after Edwards almost gouged Muhammad’s eye off his socket.
So, Edwards too hasn’t had a proper fight since July 2019.
Despite the fight being postponed Diaz confirmed that he would definitely fight Edwards, thereby putting an end to all fighters who tried to call-out Edwards in the meantime.
Former UFC fighter and current analyst Chael Sonnen addressed the postponement of the fight in his recent YouTube video.
He claimed that the fight getting postponed by a month was actually good for ‘Rocky’ Edwards, since he felt that the one thing Edwards needed was ‘shine’.
Here is what Uncle Chael had to say:
“Imagine if you’re in Leon’s spot. You really dodged a bullet on that. This is a massive fight. One thing that Leon needs is shine. If Leon can go and get over Nate Diaz, he is going to be shined up very nicely – to mature and go right into a world title fight. He could go that far.”
Nate Diaz is known for his toughness. The guy hardly shows that he is in pain. A trend that flows in the Diaz family.
Now, Diaz pulling out of the Edwards fight at UFC 262, is the first time that ‘The Stockton Slugger’, has pulled out of a fight due to an injury.
Ariel Helwani spoke about this in the recent episode of Ariel and The Bad Guy featuring Uncle Chael.
Helwani claimed that the injury had to be significant if someone like Diaz is withdrawing from a fight:
“He is actually withdrawing due to an injury. So that seems significant.”
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