UFC looking to book Covington-Edwards as title eliminator

UFC president Dana White said Friday the promotion is looking to schedule a welterweight bout between Colby Covington and Leon Edwards.

White added the winner would challenge for the title against the winner of Kamaru Usman versus Gilbert Burns, which headlines UFC 258 on Saturday in Las Vegas.

Edwards was scheduled to face Khamzat Chimaev in the UFC Fight Night main event on March 13, but Chimaev withdrew Thursday due to lingering physical effects caused by COVID-19. It was the matchup's third cancellation.

"Leon accepts the fight with a No. 15-ranked guy, who is a savage. Nobody else wants to fight this guy," White told reporters, according to MMA Junkie. "He accepts the fight, the fight keeps falling out left and right. Now, this happens to him.

"To show the kid the respect he deserves in stepping up and taking these fights and doing what he's done, (we have to) get him the right fight."

White said he wasn't sure whether Covington-Edwards would get booked as the new March 13 headliner or at a later date.

"I think Colby's ready to fight," White said. "I don't know. We'll see. This thing just happened yesterday. We're still scrambling. I can't give you dates. We're trying to figure this stuff out right now."