Anthony Smith: Leon Edwards wouldn't consider middleweight move if Khamzat Chimaev was champ

Anthony Smith believes UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards would never consider middleweight if Khamzat Chimaev held the title.

Edwards (20-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC), who defends his 170-pound title against Colby Covington (17-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC) in the UFC 296 headliner on Dec. 16, expressed interest in moving up to 185 pounds with a win. But Smith said there’s an array of welterweight contenders waiting for Edwards, and he should focus on that first.

“I think you’ve got to clear out your division,” Smith said on Michael Bisping’s YouTube channel. “Leon moving up, that one hits a little harder than some of the previous ones. Like, come on, dude. I like Leon a lot, big Leon fan, but he’s only ever fought Kamaru Usman in title fights. There are a lot of title challengers coming. You got his next fight with Colby, Belal is going to be in there.

“There’s some up-and-comers. There’s Shavkat (Rakhmonov), Ian Garry. There’s guys we got to keep rolling. Gilbert Burns is right there. He’s one win away from a title shot. He’s got a tough list of people coming his way. I just don’t know if now is the time to move up.”

Smith also said Edwards is only talking about chasing the middleweight title because he sees current champion Sean Strickland as a winnable fight.

“Of course, he’s going to want to move up right now,” Smith said. “If Khamzat (Chimaev) was the champion, I don’t know if we’d see Leon running to middleweight so quickly, but I think we have a champion in Sean Strickland that he believes matches up well with him, and it stylistically makes a lot of sense. I agree with some of the frustration. Listen, if I had a world title, maybe I’d do the same sh*t.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 296.