Leon Edwards claims he was offered Tyron Woodley as co-main event for Conor McGregor return

Leon Edwards appears to be on the verge of securing a date with former champion Tyron Woodley.

In an interview with SevereMMA.com, the surging U.K. welterweight revealed that the UFC had offered him and Woodley a co-main event slot for Conor McGregor’s Jan. 18 return, which was announced by the Irishman at a Russian press conference last week.

Edwards also revealed that he offered the UFC to act as an alternate for Jorge Masvidal vs. Nate Diaz and Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington, with both offers being turned down by the promotion.

“When the fight got made, when Diaz vs. Masvidal [was made], I offered the UFC that I would stay ready just in case anything like this happened,” Edwards told SevereMMA.com.

“[UFC] said that, ‘No, it should be fine, you don’t need to.’ I kind of put all my focus into December, so I asked them again in case someone from Colby or Usman fell out, but they said no again this week. So, I’m aiming towards early next year probably. Woodley would be a good fight. Let’s just see how these next two fights pan out - Masvidal and Diaz, Usman and Colby - let’s see how they play out and then I want the number one spot, if not the title shot.”

Edwards has already agreed to the date with Woodley, and based on what he said, the ball is firmly in the court of the former champion in terms of the contest being set in stone.

“If they give me Woodley, the talk is that it would be in America. They said to me this week that they offered Tyron Woodley the fight for January...the same date as Conor...the same card as Conor in January. They offered us that fight for the co-main, I said, ‘Yeah,’ and whatever, so [we’ll wait and see],” said Edwards.