For the new welterweight champion Leon Edwards, the most obvious scenario is the first title defence against Kamaru Usman in a trilogy. He defeated him in stunning fashion just over a week ago in the UFC 278 event. Still, that doesn't mean there are no other options. For example, while Edwards has stated that Usman deserves an immediate trilogy after five consecutive defences, the champion also said that he wants to give title shots to Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz as well, under certain circumstances.

The condition he set for Diaz is that if he's able to beat the highly hyped and undefeated Khamzat Chimaev next week at UFC 279, he will get his chance. Chimaev was one of the favourite fighters of UFC president Dana White since he joined the promotion. In case Chimaev does what is expected and beats Diaz, then Dave Lovell, the Edwards coach believed Chimaev could be next in line for the belt. However, the option Lovell doesn't really care for is Colby Covington who is currently 3rd in the official UFC rankings, just behind Edwards and Usman. However, he was very disrespectful towards Edwards before, calling him nobody and throwing insults, which now backfired.